CHAPTER 10
HOW ARE PROPOSITIONS OF VALUE ARGUED?
True or False
10-1 Value argumentation is almost exclusively concerned with making aesthetic
judgments about artistic works using sets of critical standards from fields such a theatre,
music, painting, and dance.
10-2 Values predispose us to think of something or someone in positive or negative
10-3 How we value something or someone is fixed, we do not change that evaluation.
10-4 When we state values exist in a hierarchy, we mean that they exist independent of
each other.
10-5 A society’s value system may change when new information is discovered.
10-6 A value hierarchy is a set of attitudes and core values shared by members of a field
or an audience.
10-7 The criteria development case uses an existing framework of values that is applied
to the value object.
10-8 Criteria development cases are used when criteria to evaluate the value object do
not already exist or are not commonly understood.
10-9 Value criteria constitute the attributes something or someone must possess in order
to be thought of as “beneficial,” “harmful,” or “effective.”
10-10 In value argumentation, the advocate must make a strategic decision whether to
employ single or multiple value criteria.
10-11 In value argumentation, the use of multiple value criteria by the advocate
automatically means that while each is a necessary condition for judging the value object
in a particular way, none of them is sufficient by itself to warrant such a judgment.
10-12 In value argumentation, arguments about effect are related to measuring the
magnitude, severity, frequency, or consequences with which the significance occurs.
10-13 In value argumentation, arguments about significance are related to measuring the
magnitude, severity, frequency, or consequences with which the effect occurs.
10-14 In value argumentation, if the significance of the effect is not inherent to the
fundamental nature of the value object, then measurement of the value object by the
criterion is invalid.
10-15 In value argumentation, inherency often refers to the attitudes society now holds
about the value object.
10-16 In value argumentation, the opponent need not concern himself with analyzing the
10-17 The opponent in value argumentation uses the stock issues to determine where and
how to attack the advocate’s case.
10-18 One strategic option the opponent always has available is the ability to argue that a
value other than that suggested by the advocate should occupy the pinnacle of the
hierarchy of values.
10-19 As an opponent in value argumentation, you may shift ground without committing
a fallacy when you ask the audience to view the value object from the position of a
different value hierarchy than the one proposed by the advocate.
10-20 The strategies of refutation by denial and extenuation are not usable in opposing
propositions of value.
Multiple Choice
10-1 Our general understanding of value is that it is a mode of thought that can influence
the way we think about things and about the behaviors in which we engage. What do we
do in this “value–thinking mode”?
(a) We isolate a particular value that seems to apply to the “something” that is the
value object of a proposition.
(b) We make subjective, judgmental statements about people, places, ideas, and
artifacts.
(c) We describe the nature and extensiveness of a disparity.
(d) We test a hypothesis that derives from a moral or ethical position.
10-2 All of the following can be considered to be core America values EXCEPT
(a) acceptance of diversity.
(b) individualism.
(c) self-confidence.
(d) belief in American superiority.
10-3 A society’s value system may undergo change when what takes place?
(a) New information is introduced.
(b) Political and ideological change occurs.
(c) Old values erode.
(d) All of the above
10-4 The factor which is most likely to bring about a change in societal values as a result
of resistance by large numbers of people is termed
(a) new information.
(b) ideological change.
(c) political change.
(d) erosion.
10-5 The “social media revolution” that includes the increasing use of Internet sites such
as Face Book and Twitter has produced a great deal of debate about the value and
consequences of these new media. Value change such as we find in the social media
revolution is value change that comes from
(a) new information.
(b) political change.
(c) erosion of a value.
(d) change in the operating environment.
10-6 Value change that occurs when society adopts the value of a minority group which
has been successful in promoting a new way of making a value seem important is termed
(a) value implementation retargeting.
(b) value emphasis or de-emphasis.
(c) value redistribution.
(d) value restandardization.
10-7 Value change that occurs when the environment changes in a way that causes an
existing value to become more or less important physiologically or psychologically is
termed
(a) value implementation retargeting.
(b) value emphasis or de-emphasis.
(c) value redistribution.
(d) value restandardization.
10-8 Value change that occurs when society alters the manner in which it pursues a value
rather than changing the value itself is known as
(a) value implementation retargeting.
(b) value emphasis or de-emphasis.
(c) value redistribution.
(d) value restandardization.
10-9 In preparing a prima facie case for value argumentation, the first step for the
advocate is
(a) defining the value object.
(b) identifying the value hierarchy.
(c) specifying the value criteria.
(d) measuring the value object.
10-10 In resolving the conflict between values framed by a proposition in his or her
favor, the advocate should attempt to prove that the value he or she favors does which of
the following?
(a) It has more desirable consequences for society than the competing value.
(b) It minimizes the attainment of some other already agreed-upon value.
(c) It is subsumed by the opposing value.
(d) All of the above
10-11 As an advocate, you may attempt to resolve a value conflict by creating a decision
rule. Which of the following would NOT be one of these decision rules?
(a) Prove that your value maximizes another agreed upon value.
(b) Prove that your value has the more desirable consequences.
(c) Prove that your value overcomes an existing cultural value.
(d) Prove that your value subsumes (includes) opposing values.
10-12 In establishing a prima facie position on the proposition “Pittsburgh is the most
livable city in the United States,” it would be necessary to offer arguments on all of the
following areas except
(a) inherency.
(b) significance.
(c) effect.
(d) limitation.
10-13 Assuming that one of our criteria for “most livable city” is whether or not cultural
and recreational opportunities are available. When we advance an argument ending in the
claim “therefore there are a large number of different cultural and recreational
opportunities are available in Pittsburgh,” we are most likely arguing the claim of
(a) inherency.
(b) significance.
(c) effect.
(d) limitation.
10-14 Of course we would have to prove more than just a large number of cultural and
recreational opportunities are found in Pittsburgh. If we advanced another unit of
argument ending in the claim, “therefore, having access to cultural and recreational
opportunities enhances the quality of life,” we are most likely arguing the claim of
(a) inherency.
(b) significance.
(c) effect.
(d) limitation.
10-15 In order to complete our argumentation about the cultural and recreational
advantages of Pittsburgh, we might advance a final unit of argument ending in the claim,
“therefore of the nation’s 329 metropolitan areas, only Pittsburgh’s city commission
provides financial support for the arts,” we are arguing the claim of
(a) inherency.
(b) significance.
(c) effect.
(d) limitation.
10-16 In value argumentation, what does the inherency argument do?
(a) The inherency argument explains or proves what the value object is purported to
do or possess.
(b) The inherency argument explains or proves the magnitude, severity, or
frequency with which the effect of the value object occurs.
(c) The inherency argument explains or proves that the effect and significance are
intrinsic to the value object, often the result of an attitude toward the value object.
(d) All of the above
10-17 As an opponent in value argumentation, to gain an advantage from the benefit of
presumption, what must you do?
(a) Be aware of how the value object is presently viewed in the field or by the
audience.
(b) Investigate what opinions have been formed about the value object, particularly
those of respected authorities in the field.
Chapter 10: How Are Propositions of Value Argued?
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(c) Determine what value standards (criteria) are used to judge the value object and
what controversies exist about the value object at the present time.
10-18 In responding to the advocate’s prima facie case on the proposition, “Pittsburgh is
the most livable city in the United States,” the opponent argues that “although Pittsburgh
may have cultural opportunities, it fails to meet the other tests of ‘livability,’ clean air, low
crime rate, and available housing.” The opponent would be using what strategy?
(a) Challenging the definition of terms.
(b) Challenging the criteria of measurement.
(c) Challenging the measurement of the value object.
(d) All of the above
10-19 As an opponent in value argumentation, you have the strategic option of
challenging the advocate’s criteria. In using this strategy, which of the following could
you NOT do?
(a) Challenge the advocate’s definition of the value object as either including
elements she failed to consider, or excluding elements that she erroneously
included.
(b) Challenge the appropriateness of the advocate’s criteria as “good” measures of
effect, significance, and inherency.
(c) Challenge the appropriateness of the advocate’s criteria on the basis that they are
too unusual or that they are more appropriate for measuring some other value
object.
(d) Provide better, more appropriate, criteria for measuring the value object.
10-20 As an opponent in value argumentation, you have the strategic option of accepting
the advocate’s value criteria and then refuting her measurement of the value object as she
applies the criteria. In using this strategy, which of the following would you NOT do?
(a) Argue that the effect suggested by the advocate occurs only in an exceptional
case or in extenuating circumstances.
(b) Challenge inherency by demonstrating that the value in question is either not
central to society or the field, or that the value is subject to change over time.
(c) Ask the audience to view the value object from the perspective of a different
value hierarchy.
(d) Show that prominent sources in the field do not consider the effect or
significance to be of great importance.
