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The Policy Adviser

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The Policy Adviser

by siddus » Thu Jun 10, 2010 10:32 am
Policy Adviser: Freedom of speech is not only a basic human right; it is also the only rational policy for this government to adopt. When ideas are openly aired, good idea flourish, silly proposals are easily recognized as such, and dangerous ideas can be responded to by rational argument. Nothing is ever gained by forcing citizens to disseminate their thoughts in secret.

The policy adviser's method of persuasion, in recommending a policy of free speech to the government, is best described by which one of the following?

(A) a circular justification of the idea of free speech as an idea that flourishes when free speech is allowed
(B) advocating respect for basic rights of citizens for its own sake
(C) a coupling of moral ideals with self-interest
(D) a warning about the difficulty of suppressing the truth
(E) a description of an ideal situation that cannot realistically be achieved

Guys and gals, give me one good reason to pick C over B
OA: C
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by RumpelThickSkin » Thu Jun 10, 2010 10:46 am
siddus wrote:Policy Adviser: Freedom of speech is not only a basic human right; it is also the only rational policy for this government to adopt. When ideas are openly aired, good idea flourish, silly proposals are easily recognized as such, and dangerous ideas can be responded to by rational argument. Nothing is ever gained by forcing citizens to disseminate their thoughts in secret.

The policy adviser's method of persuasion, in recommending a policy of free speech to the government, is best described by which one of the following?

(A) a circular justification of the idea of free speech as an idea that flourishes when free speech is allowed
(B) advocating respect for basic rights of citizens for its own sake
(C) a coupling of moral ideals with self-interest
(D) a warning about the difficulty of suppressing the truth
(E) a description of an ideal situation that cannot realistically be achieved

Guys and gals, give me one good reason to pick C over B
OA: C
Siddus,

B - Only really covers the first half of the question. That freedom of speech is a basic human right.

C - On the other hand, not only explicitly mentions that freedom of speech is moral (basic human right) but also mentions that it would benifit the state. Therefore the state gains from this while promoting moral ideas! IMO C succintly describes the policy advisor method of persuasion.

I hope that helps!
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by siddus » Thu Jun 10, 2010 10:55 am
Thanks, RumpelThickSkin

but don't you think that "for its own sake" is more or less equivalent to "self-interest"

What I am coming at here is that in B, the policy adviser is clearly advocating the adoption of "Freedom of Speech policy" further he/she implies that the policy is for the benefit of the government as it distills the good and bad ideas.

So all in all: "advocating respect for basic rights of citizens for its own sake"

??? Why pick B over C ???
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by RumpelThickSkin » Thu Jun 10, 2010 11:22 am
siddus wrote:Thanks, RumpelThickSkin

but don't you think that "for its own sake" is more or less equivalent to "self-interest"

What I am coming at here is that in B, the policy adviser is clearly advocating the adoption of "Freedom of Speech policy" further he/she implies that the policy is for the benefit of the government as it distills the good and bad ideas.

So all in all: "advocating respect for basic rights of citizens for its own sake"

??? Why pick B over C ???
Hi Siddus,

Cheers for following up! I missed that while reading the question. Got it right by fluke. My intial reasoning was indeed flawed.

Actually after thinking about it B is still wrong because only basic human rights are discussed where C talks about moral ideas as a whole. I know it is tricky , had I read the question properly I'd be stuck between B & C too.
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by siddus » Thu Jun 10, 2010 7:13 pm
RumpelThickSkin, Thanks for the help. I guess you are right.
On the whole C does look like a better choice, but these questions are really tough to crack when you have to take that one close call between two options..

I hope one of the experts can shed some light on how to tackle such questions..

Cheers
Sid
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by martin.jonson007 » Fri Jun 11, 2010 12:50 am
I cudn't find anything wrong with choice A....

In fact, given a choice b/w A and C, I wud choose A

B'coz coupling of two things may be in positive OR negative manner ... so can't be sure... but when u say justify.. it is always in positive sense.....

So IMO A

Experts.. plz comment...
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by robosc9 » Fri Sep 16, 2011 8:16 pm
martin.jonson007 wrote:I cudn't find anything wrong with choice A....

In fact, given a choice b/w A and C, I wud choose A

B'coz coupling of two things may be in positive OR negative manner ... so can't be sure... but when u say justify.. it is always in positive sense.....

So IMO A

Experts.. plz comment...
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Last edited by robosc9 on Fri Sep 16, 2011 9:09 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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by gunjan1208 » Fri Sep 16, 2011 9:04 pm
I would also choose B over C.

EXPERT HELP PLEASE!!


Regards
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