The Little Blue Reasoning Book - Brandon Royal [52]
❑ A. Breadth vs. Depth
❑ B. Control vs. Chance
❑ C. Individual vs. Collective
❑ D. Means vs. Ends
❑ E. Quantity vs. Quality
❑ F. Short-term vs. Long-term
❑ G. Specific vs. General
❑ H. Subjective vs. Objective
❑ I. Theory vs. Practice
❑ J. Tradition vs. Change
See solution
1. Fossil Fuels
Brenda: In the long run, fossil fuels, including oil, coal, and even gas, will be exhausted, and the major practical alternative will be solar energy. Therefore, we should develop that option in the remaining time.
Bob: I disagree. It would be foolish to switch to energy from crude solar energy systems, and it is unnecessary to do so, when the supply of oil, coal, and especially gas are more than adequate for our current needs.
2. Miracle Tablets
One Miracle tablet contains twice the pain reliever found in regular aspirin. A consumer will have to take two aspirin to get the relief provided by one Miracle tablet. And since a bottle of Miracle costs the same as a bottle of regular aspirin, consumers can be expected to switch to Miracle.
3. Pirates
International anti-piracy laws, restricting the unauthorized duplication of music CDs and online downloads, must be more effectively enforced. Effective reinforcement would lead to greater revenues for the music companies that lose millions of dollars each year on illegal copies and downloads. This increase in revenue would stimulate music companies to release a wider range of their prerecorded music. That outcome alone makes rigid enforcement a benefit to music fans who had previously saved money on cheaper, illegal CD copies and downloads.
4. Techies
Dr. Janson’s research challenges the conventional wisdom that training unskilled people in a narrow skill like computer programming or accounting will make them upwardly mobile. He claims that a disproportionately small percentage of college graduates with vocational degrees have landed upper-echelon management jobs. According to his research, presidents and CEOs of Fortune 500 Companies land and hold upper-echelon jobs because of their broader liberal arts education, which fosters more analytically rigorous minds.
5. Workers
The problem with labor unions today is that their top staffs consist of college-trained lawyers, economists, and labor relations experts who cannot understand the concerns of real workers. The goal of union reform movements should be to recruit top staff members from worker representatives who have come up from the ranks of the industry involved.
6. Sales
During a recent business meeting, management voted unanimously to target increased sales as the best strategy to move the company forward. However, debate ensued as to the best method to achieve this goal. Some key staff members pointed to hiring more salespeople as the key to increasing sales, while others argued that what was needed was a market study to better understand consumer needs.
7. Safe Haven
Wealthy parents living in urban centers, who are increasingly concerned with neighborhood violence such as drive-by shootings, are considering moving to the safety of the suburbs. However, statistics show that the death rate for teenagers in suburban areas is no less than that in urban areas because teenagers living in suburban areas have a higher incidence of suicide as well as death from driving while intoxicated.
8. Free Speech
Our government guarantees that we have the right to free speech, and yet this is an illusion. Yelling “Fire!” in a crowded theatre, joking about a bomb while at an airport, or engaging in obscene rants in public — all of these are, in fact, grounds for arrest. Clearly, the government is contradicting its promise of free speech to all.
9. Historians
Today’s historians, in an attempt to mimic the work of natural scientists,