P: Your hypothesis is laughable! What would have been the point of such a person’s writing Homeric epics down? Surely a person who knew them well enough to write them down would not need to read them; and no one else could read them, according to your hypothesis.
1) the writer might anticipate forgetting the story later, and
2) the writer might teach the new alphabet to others.
A
It fails to demonstrate that the Phoenician alphabet alone could have provided the basis for the Greek alphabet.
B
It incorrectly assumes that the first text ever written in Greek was a Homeric poem.
C
It confuses the requirements for a complex oral tradition with the requirements of a written language.
D
It attempts to demonstrate the truth of a hypothesis merely by showing that it is possible.
E
It overlooks the possibility that the person who invented the Greek alphabet did so with the intention of teaching it to others.
A
It treats something that is necessary for bringing about a state of affairs as something that is sufficient to bring about that state of affairs.
B
It treats the fact that two things regularly occur together as proof that there is a single thing that is the cause of them both.
C
It overlooks the fact that changing what people think is the case does not necessarily change what is the case.
D
It relies on the ambiguity of the term “infusion,” which can designate either a process or the product of that process.
E
It relies on an analogy between two things that are insufficiently alike in the respects in which they would have to be alike for the conclusion to be supported.
Sharon: The high number of citizens not registered to vote has persisted despite many attempts to make registering easier. Surveys show that most of these citizens believe that their votes would not make a difference. Until that belief is changed, simplifying the registration process will not increase the percentage of citizens registering to vote.
A
whether changing the voter registration process would be cumbersome
B
why so many citizens do not register to vote
C
what percentage of those registered to vote actually vote
D
whether local election boards have simplified the registration process
E
why the public lacks confidence in the effects of voting
The publisher of a best-selling self-help book had, in some promotional material, claimed that it showed readers how to become exceptionally successful. Of course, everyone knows that no book can deliver to the many what, by definition, must remain limited to the few: exceptional success. Thus, although it is clear that the publisher knowingly made a false claim, doing so should not be considered unethical in this case.
Summarize Argument
We shouldn’t consider the publisher’s false claim (about promising exceptional results to readers) to be unethical. Why not? Because everyone knows that, by definition, it’s impossible for many people to achieve an “exceptional” result. (If it’s exceptional, it must be rare!)
Notable Assumptions
The author makes two key assumptions:
(1) That the publisher expected the book to be read by many people. (If the publisher didn’t think many people would actually read the book, then it doesn’t matter whether it’s impossible to promise exceptional results to many people.)
(2) That if everyone knows that a claim can’t possibly be true, it’s not unethical to make that false claim.
We’re looking for a principle that strengthens. Principles are often conditional rules, so an answer that supplies assumption (2), or its contrapositive, is a good prediction.
A
Knowingly making a false claim is unethical only if it is reasonable for people to accept the claim as true.
Everyone knows that the book can’t achieve for many people what the publisher claims it can. So, it’s not very reasonable for people to accept that claim. This triggers the contrapositive of (A), leading to the author’s conclusion: the claim isn’t unethical.
B
Knowingly making a false claim is unethical if those making it derive a gain at the expense of those acting as if the claim were true.
This tells us when knowingly making a false claim is unethical. But we want to support the conclusion that knowingly making such a claim is not unethical. So (B) can’t help us.
C
Knowingly making a false claim is unethical in only those cases in which those who accept the claim as true suffer a hardship greater than the gain they were anticipating.
For this to support the conclusion, we’d first need to fail the necessary condition, thus triggering the contrapositive. But the premise is silent on this necessary condition. We don’t know whether anyone suffers hardship.
D
Knowingly making a false claim is unethical only if there is a possibility that someone will act as if the claim might be true.
For (D) to work, the premise would need to suggest that there’s no chance anyone will act as if the publisher’s promise might be true. This would trigger the contrapositive. But the premise tells us what all people know, not how all people act on that knowledge.
E
Knowingly making a false claim is unethical in at least those cases in which for someone else to discover that the claim is false, that person must have acted as if the claim were true.
This tells us when knowingly making a false claim is unethical. But we want to support the conclusion that knowingly making such a claim is not unethical. So (E) can’t help us.