Philosopher: Graham argues that since a person is truly happy only when doing something, the best life is a life that is full of activity. But we should not be persuaded by Graham’s argument. People sleep, and at least sometimes when sleeping, they are truly happy, even though they are not doing anything.
Summarize Argument: Counter-Position
The philosopher concludes that we should be skeptical of Graham’s argument. Graham starts with the premise that you need to be doing something in order to be truly happy, and uses that premise to conclude that the best life must be full of activity. But the philosopher disagrees with Graham’s premise—she notes that while sleeping, people can be truly happy even through they’re doing nothing.
Identify Argument Part
The claim in the question stem is a premise of the philosopher’s argument. It provides a counterexample to Graham’s only premise by illustrating that “doing something” isn’t actually a requirement for a person to be truly happy. By undermining Graham’s premise, the claim in the question stem in turn casts doubt on Graham’s overall argument.
A
It is a premise of Graham’s argument.
It is a premise of the philosopher’s argument, not Graham’s. It directly contradict’s Graham’s premise.
B
It is an example intended to show that a premise of Graham’s argument is false.
Sleeping is an example of an activity that runs completely counter to Graham’s premise. If, while sleeping, people can be truly happy while doing nothing at all, then Graham’s premise (that people must do something in order to be truly happy) must be false.
C
It is an analogy appealed to by Graham but that the philosopher rejects.
It is the philosopher’s own premise—the philosopher does not reject it. It is also not an analogy; it is a direct example of an activity that runs counter to Graham’s premise.
D
It is an example intended to disprove the conclusion of Graham’s argument.
The philosopher doesn’t go so far as to say that the best life is not a life that is full of activity. In fact, she doesn’t take any position on what the best life entails. She merely calls Graham’s conclusion into question by rejecting his premise.
E
It is the main conclusion of the philosopher’s argument.
It is a premise for the philosopher’s main conclusion. The fact that people can be truly happy while not doing anything undermines Graham’s only premise, which in turns supports the philosopher’s conclusion that we should be skeptical of Graham’s argument.
Historian: In rebuttal of my claim that West influenced Stuart, some people point out that West’s work is mentioned only once in Stuart’s diaries. But Stuart’s diaries mention several meetings with West, and Stuart’s close friend, Abella, studied under West. Furthermore, Stuart’s work often uses West’s terminology which, though now commonplace, none of Stuart’s contemporaries used.
Summary
The historian claimed that West influenced Stuart. Other people think West didn’t influence Stuart, because Stuart’s diaries mention West’s work only once. The historian responds to this objection by pointing out that Stuart has a close friend who studied under West, and that Stuart’s diaries mention meetings with West. The historian also points out that Stuart’s work often uses the same terms as West, even though other people working around the same time as Stuart didn’t use those words.
Strongly Supported Conclusions
The fact West’s work was mentioned only once in Stuart’s diaries does not imply that Stuart was not influenced by West.
There’s strong evidence Stuart was influenced by West.
A
Stuart’s discussions with Abella were one of the means by which West influenced Stuart.
Unsupported. There’s no support for the idea that “discussions” were the means by which Stuart was influenced. We don’t even know if Stuart and Abella had discussions. Maybe Stuart was influenced through reading Abella’s work, which could have been influenced by West.
B
It is more likely that Stuart influenced West than that West influenced Stuart.
Unsupported. The stimulus suggests that West influenced Stuart. But it doesn’t say anything concerning whether Stuart influenced West.
C
Stuart’s contemporaries were not influenced by West.
Unsupported. Although the author believes the language Stuart used is evidence of influence by West, that doesn’t suggest people who didn’t use that language weren’t influenced. The contemporaries could have been influenced, but in a way that didn’t involve using West’s words.
D
Stuart’s work was not entirely free from West’s influence.
Strongly supported. The historian points out evidence showing potential influence, including meetings with West, friendship with one of West’s students, and use of distinctive language also used by West. This isn’t a “must be true” conclusion, but it is most strongly supported.
E
Because of Stuart’s influence on other people, West’s terminology is now commonplace.
Unsupported. Although we know the terminology is now commonplace, that stimulus doesn’t tell us why it became commonplace.
The author assumes that, just because dinosaurs couldn’t avoid angiosperms by tasting their bitterness, they couldn’t avoid them at all. She thus assumes that dinosaurs were eating any angiosperms, a point which is never established.
She also assumes that angiosperms, which were “potentially lethal,” were deadly enough to cause the immediate extinction of all dinosaurs.
A
Many fossils of large mammals are found in contorted positions.
B
Angiosperms provide a great deal of nutrition.
C
Carnivorous dinosaurs mostly ate other, vegetarian, dinosaurs that fed on angiosperms.
D
Some poisonous plants do not produce amino-acid-based alkaloids.
E
Mammals sometimes die of drug overdoses from eating angiosperms.
A
Since different parts of the transportation infrastructure are the responsibility of different levels of government, radical reconstruction projects are very difficult to coordinate efficiently.
B
When funds for transportation infrastructure maintenance are scarce, they are typically distributed in proportion to the amount of traffic that is borne by different elements of the infrastructure.
C
If continuous maintenance is performed at less-than-adequate levels, the need for radical reconstruction will often arise later than if maintenance had been restricted to responding to emergencies.
D
Radical reconstruction projects are, in general, too costly to be paid for from current revenue.
E
For long periods, the task of regular maintenance lacks urgency, since the consequences of neglecting it are very slow to manifest themselves.
A
takes for granted that the greater the number of dangerous activities one engages in the less one is frightened by any one of them
B
neglects to consider those people who have parachuted more than once but fewer than ten times
C
takes for granted that people do not know how frightening something is unless they have tried it
D
fails to take into account the possibility that people would be better off if they did not do things that terrify them
E
overlooks the possibility that most people who have parachuted many times did not find it frightening initially
A
Economists’ studies of the prices of grocery items and their rates of sales rarely cover alcoholic beverages.
B
Few merchants of any kind have detailed knowledge of economic theories about the relationship between item prices and sales rates.
C
Consumers are generally willing to forgo purchasing other items they desire in order to purchase a superior wine.
D
Imported wines in all price ranges are comparable in quality to domestic wines that cost less.
E
An increase in the demand for a consumer product is compatible with an increase in demand for a competing product.
A
fails to establish that consistency is a more important consideration than accuracy
B
fails to consider the program’s accuracy in other tasks that it may perform
C
takes for granted that the program’s output would be consistent even if its estimates were inaccurate
D
regards accuracy as the sole criterion for judging the program’s value
E
fails to consider that the program could produce consistent but inaccurate output
A
The rate at which electrical current flows is affected by inductance.
B
The flow of electrical current in a circuit requires inertia.
C
Inertia in the flow of water pumped by an electrically powered pump is caused by inductance in the pump’s circuits.
D
Electrical engineers try to minimize the effects of inductance in electrical circuits.
E
When a water pump is switched off it continues to pump water for a second or two.
Samantha: The proposed schedule will not permit teachers to cover more new material. Even though the schedule eliminates summer vacation, it adds six new two-week breaks, so the total number of school days will be about the same as before.