Summary
While some people claim that laws are enacted at least in part to establish a moral fabric in society, the primary purpose of law is to establish order within society. Why? Because sometimes the highest courts have treated moral beliefs as grounds for exceptions in the application of laws.
Strongly Supported Conclusions
Sometimes the application of law involves factoring in people’s moral beliefs.
A
The manner in which laws are applied sometimes takes into account the beliefs of the people governed by those laws.
The stimulus tells us that sometimes the highest courts use moral beliefs as grounds for making exceptions in their decisions. If this is true, then it must be that there are at least some instances where people’s beliefs are considered when applying the law.
B
The law has as one of its functions the ordering of society but is devoid of moral aims.
We don’t know whether moral aims are completely absent from the law. We only know that the law’s primary purpose is establishing order within society. It could be the case that moral aims are a secondary purpose.
C
Actions based on religious belief or on moral conviction tend to receive the protection of the highest courts.
We don’t know whether actions taken due to a person’s moral beliefs usually receive protection from the highest courts. In the stimulus, we are only told that using moral beliefs as grounds for decisions are the exception when courts apply the law.
D
The way a society is ordered by law should not reflect any moral convictions about the way society ought to be ordered.
We don’t know what way society should be ordered by law. There is no value judgement in the stimulus.
E
The best way to promote cooperation among a society’s institutions, organizations, and citizenry is to institute order in that society by means of law.
We don’t know what the best way to establish order within a society would be. There is no value judgment in the stimulus.
Summarize Argument
Physiology is only part of pain perception. Why? The meaning one attaches to a wound can also affect pain perception. How do we know? A WWII study showed that civilians and soldiers attached different meanings to their pain, and civilians requested more pain medication.
Identify Argument Part
This is the conclusion of the argument. The study supports that there are psychological components to pain perception, which in turn supports that pain perception is only partly dependent on physiology.
A
It is an assumption on which the argument depends.
The claim is the argument - everything else supports it. It cannot be an assumption if it is the conclusion.
B
It undermines the argument’s main conclusion.
It does not undermine the conclusion - it is the conclusion. The rest of the stimulus is used to support the claim.
C
It summarizes a position that the argument is meant to discredit.
The argument is not discrediting this claim - it is supporting it. The rest of the stimulus acts as evidence.
D
It is information that the argument takes for granted.
The argument does not take this claim for granted - it supports it. There is evidence for why we should believe the claim.
E
It is the main conclusion of the argument.
This is accurate - it is the main argument in the stimulus. The rest of the argument acts as evidence to support it.
Summarize Argument: Phenomenon-Hypothesis
The author concludes early humans had different diets than us. Her evidence is that skeletal remains of early humans show fewer dental problems than we have.
Notable Assumptions
The author assumes that virtually the only thing that could’ve caused fewer dental problems in early humans is different diets.
A
A healthy diet leads to healthy teeth.
We have no idea if early humans or modern humans have “healthy diets.”
B
Skeletal remains indicate that some early humans had a significant number of cavities.
Regardless, early humans had less dental problems than we do now.
C
The diet of early humans was at least as varied as is our diet.
We don’t care how varied their diet was. We need to strengthen the connection between early humans eating a different diet than ours, and early humans having less dental problems than us.
D
Early humans had a shorter average life span than we do, and the most serious dental problems now tend to develop late in life.
This weakens the author’s argument. Early humans had fewer dental problems because they didn’t live long enough to develop such problems, rather than because of their diets.
E
Diet is by far the most significant factor contributing to dental health.
In all likelihood, early humans had better dental health because of their diets. This affirms the author’s assumption that fewer health problems are a sign of better diets.