#14 - Waller: If there were really such a thing as

[Administrator]

Complete Question Explanation

Point at Issue. The correct answer choice is (D)

Waller, the skeptic in this dialogue, does not believe in extrasensory perception. If ESP existed,
Waller argues, people would be able to become rich and famous by proving its existence, and it
would be generally accepted by the public.

Chin disagrees, saying that skeptics will never be satisfied. As long as the “cultural elite” remain
close-minded to the possibility of its existence, the media and the public will remain skeptical.
So, Waller thinks that if ESP existed, it would be accepted by the public. Since it is not generally
accepted, Waller is one of the skeptics. Chin believes that the public’s skepticism is irrelevant—the
public and the media are just skeptical because of the elites’ closed-mindedness.

The stimulus is followed by a Point at Issue question, so the right answer choice will describe the
crux of their disagreement: Waller thinks that public skepticism disproves the existence of ESP, and
Chin thinks public skepticism is irrelevant. To further confirm the correct answer to a Point at Issue
question, apply the Agree/Disagree Test: One of the speakers will agree with the correct answer
choice, and the other will disagree.

Answer choice (A): This answer choice might be appealing, because Waller is a clear skeptic. The
problem is that Chin does not commit to a belief in the phenomenon, but rather argues that general
acceptance among the public is irrelevant.

Answer choice (B): This answer choice may be somewhat enticing because Chin begins with the
point that one can’t demonstrate anything to a point at which all skeptics are satisfied. The problem
with this answer choice is that Waller doesn’t comment on the prospect of demonstrating something
to the satisfaction of all critics—Waller’s comments are based on the lack of general acceptance
among the public.

Answer choice (C): Neither speaker comments specifically on or alludes to the strength of the
skeptics’ case, so this choice cannot be the point at issue between them.

Answer choice (D): This is the correct answer choice, as prephrased above. To confirm this as
the right answer, it passes the Agree/Disagree Test: Waller would agree with this statement, arguing
that public skepticism disproves the existence of ESP. Chin would disagree, arguing that public
skepticism is irrelevant.

Answer choice (E): Both speakers seem to believe that the public remains skeptical, although they
disagree about whether this skepticism is relevant to the question of ESP’s existence.

[RayMiller]

Please help me out. In this question I was leaning towards B. But that's only because when Chin responds to Waller he opens up by naming the audience he talks about "all skeptics." However, Chin identifies her audience as the public so I was guessing this is wrong. But the more I analyze, none of the choices looks right. And after looking at the answer key, D definitely doesn't look right…good evidence?

Please help.

[Steve Stein]

Waller, the skeptic in that dialogue, does not believe in extrasensory perception. If ESP existed, Waller argues, people would be able to become rich and famous by proving its existence, and it would be generally accepted by the public.

Chin disagrees, saying that skeptics will never be satisfied. As long as the “cultural elite” remain close-minded to the possibility of its existence, the media and the public will remain skeptical.

So, Waller thinks that if ESP existed, it would be accepted by the public. Since it is not generally accepted, Waller is one of the skeptics. Chin believes that the public’s skepticism is irrelevant—the public and the media are just skeptical because of the elites’ closed-mindedness.

The stimulus is followed by a Point at Issue question, so the right answer choice will describe the crux of their disagreement: Waller thinks that public skepticism disproves the existence of ESP, and Chin thinks public skepticism is irrelevant. To further confirm the correct answer to a Point at Issue question, apply the Agree/Disagree Test: One of the speakers will agree with the correct answer choice, and the other will disagree.

To confirm D as the right answer, it passes the Agree/Disagree Test: Waller would agree with this statement, arguing that public skepticism disproves the existence of ESP. Chin would disagree, arguing that public skepticism is irrelevant.

I hope that's helpful! Let me know--thanks!

~Steve

[RayMiller]

But where does the good evidence come in? I think this is what cautioned me the most.

I guess I was thinking since Chin said that if a person with the extrasensory powers could convince the general public by demonstrating the powers then that would be sufficient to believe. Should I have interpreted that to mean, "good enough evidence" that it exists?

[Nikki Siclunov]

"Good evidence," in this context, is synonymous with "sufficient evidence." We can think of this argument in conditional terms:

Waller claims that if ESP existed, it would be generally accepted by the public. However, clearly the public does not believe in ESP, which means that it doesn't exist:

ESP exists Accepted by public

NOT Accepted by public ESP does NOT exist

Chin rejects the view that the public's acceptance of ESP is a relevant consideration in this case, because people are biased against it. In other words, he views the failure of the general public to believe in ESP as insufficient evidence against its existence. This analysis proves that (D) is correct: Waller would agree with it, and Chin would disagree.

By the way, if you chose (B), you were not alone: (B) was twice as popular as (D), but it's a decoy. Although we have solid evidence that Chin would disagree with (B) - he believes that it is impossible to demonstrate anything to the satisfaction of all skeptics - it is unclear how Waller would respond to it. Waller claims that if ESP were real, it would generally be accepted by the public. This is not quite the same as saying that it could be demonstrated to the satisfaction of all skeptics. This slight shift in focus is sufficient to make (B) incorrect, because we lack sufficient evidence to prove that Waller would agree with it.

Hope this helps!

[RayMiller]

Thanks Nikki.

Very clear. I understand.

[natalierohrig]

The way I perceived this question was that Waller and Chin were discussing a hypothetical situation in which extrasensory perception exists. From the explanations I've read for this question so far, it seems that the basis for Waller's disbelief in extrasensory perception comes from his statement, "If there were really such a thing as extrasensory perception..."

However, I interpreted that part as an intro to a hypothetical discussion based on Waller's words "if" and "would" -- where I felt B logically followed (though I did feel it was a little too strong with "all skeptics"), and D seemed irrelevant because I felt that Waller and Chin's opinions on its existence were not established in the stimulus.

I'm wondering how we know Waller actually doesn't believe in extrasensory perception based on the language used -- I'm just a little confused as to how I should've read and understood this question better.

Thank you!

[Paul Marsh]

Hi Natalie! Your reservation about answer choice (B) is spot on - it's too strong. Waller never says that all skeptics could be convinced, so that is not something that he and Chin disagree about. What if (B) said something like, "extrasensory perception, if it were a real phenomenon, could be demonstrated to the satisfaction of the general public"? Well, then it would be a great answer. Be careful with answer choices like (B) - since it sounds like an excellent answer choice up until the very last few words, it's easy for your brain to latch onto it before you finish reading. Don't get attached to an answer before you've got a complete picture of what it's actually saying!

Now let's look at answer choice (D). You said that you felt Waller and Chin's final conclusive opinions regarding extrasensory perception (EP for short) were not established by the stimulus. Those feelings are accurate! We don't really know whether Waller or Chin believe, in their heart of hearts, in EP. But that doesn't rule out (D). (D) is saying that Waller and Chin disagree about the value of a particular piece of evidence.

Let's make up a similar example. Say that you and I are arguing about whether the series finale of Game of Thrones was any good. I say, "Well, it was viewed by over 13 million people, so that's some evidence that it was good." You respond astutely, "But popularity is a poor indicator of quality. After all, Ed Sheeran is one of the 20 best-selling musical artists of all time, and his music is really just awful." Our statements aren't enough to conclude that we disagree about how good the Thrones finale was, however they do show that we disagree about the evidentiary value of popularity (whether something being popular is good evidence that it is quality). Similarly, we don't know if Waller and Chin disagree about the existence of EP; we do know that they disagree about the evidentiary value of public opinion (Waller thinks that lack of public acceptance is pretty good evidence that EP doesn't exist, while Chin thinks that lack of public acceptance doesn't really show anything about EP's existence). For Point at Issue questions, before looking at the answer choices it's important to Pre-Phrase and key in on exactly what narrow point the two people are disagreeing about. Here, that's whether public opinion about EP is a good indicator as to the existence of EP. Hope that helps!

[natalierohrig]

Paul,

Your explanation really clears things up for me. I see now that answer choice D doesn't need established opinions on EP's existence. In addition, I think I was letting each answer choice sway me instead of taking the time to prephrase first, so that's a needed reminder! Thank you so much!

[iarzir2020]

I really didn't see Waller's argument as being that of a skeptic's. I thought he was simply making a judgement on what COULD happen if extrasensory perception existed - because his argument still relies on the fact that the person with the perception "COULD convince the public." Maybe someone out there does have ESP, but they don't WANT to convince the public by demonstrating their powers. How is his argument advocating against the existence of ESP?