Insurgent political parties that are profoundly dissatisfied with the dominant party’s reign and justificatory ideology always produce factions whose views and aims differ as greatly from each other’s as they do from the dominant party’s. Although these factions ignore their own disagreements for the sake of defeating the dominant party, their disagreements inevitably come forward upon victory. Therefore, _______.

Summary
Revolutionary political parties that oppose the dominant party’s reign and ideology always produce groups that are as different from each other as these groups are different from the dominant party. Even though these groups ignore each other’s differences, these differences are eventually revealed upon victory.

Strongly Supported Conclusions
Therefore, a winning revolutionary group must address the differences between the other revolutionary groups if that group wants to stay in power.

A
no victorious insurgent party ever manages to stay in power for as long as the party it displaces did
This answer is unsupported. We don’t know from the stimulus the timeline for any political party to stay in power. To say that no revolutionary party that wins ever stays in power for as long as the displaced party is too strong.
B
a victorious insurgent party must address the disagreements between its factions if it is to stay in power
This answer is strongly supported. If these group’s differences aren’t addressed, then it is probable that the remaining groups will band together to dethrone the new dominant party.
C
the heretofore insurgent party will not always promulgate a new ideology to justify its own policies, once it is victorious
This answer is unsupported. We don’t know from the stimulus whether or not the winning revolutionary party will promote a new ideology. We only know that the ideologies in these parties differ from the party in power, not necessary that these ideologies are “new.”
D
a victorious insurgent party always faces opposition from the party it recently ousted
This answer is unsupported. Whether the revolutionary party will face opposition from the party it dethrones is an assumption that we don’t know will “always” be true.
E
it is impossible for the different factions of a victorious insurgent party to effect the compromises necessary to keep the new party in power
This answer is unsupported. It is too strong to say that agreement among the different revolutionary groups is “impossible.”

34 comments

Council member P: Alarmists are those who see an instance of pollution and exaggerate its significance into a major character fault of society. Such alarmists fail to distinguish the incident and the behavior that caused it from the disposition of people not to pollute.

Council member Q: To think that there is a lot of pollution based on the discovery of a serious single instance of pollution is simply an application of the widely accepted principle that actions tend to follow the path of least resistance, and it is surely easier to pollute than not to pollute.

Speaker 1 Summary
P supports an unstated conclusion that alarmists do not have sufficient support to conclude that pollution is a major character fault of society. By explaining that alarmists fail to distinguish polluting behavior from people’s tendency not to pollute, P implies that a societal character flaw of pollution does not follow from specific instances of pollution.

Speaker 2 Summary
Q indicates an unstated conclusion that alarmists’ claim is reasonably supported. Q supports this by explaining that actions generally follow the path of least resistance, and it is easier to pollute than not to pollute. This implies that a single incident of pollution is good evidence that more people will be doing the easy thing and polluting.

Objective
We need to find a disagreement. P and Q disagree about whether or not pollution indicates that people generally tend to pollute.

A
pollution should be considered a problem
Neither speaker directly claims that pollution should or shouldn’t be considered a problem. Both P and Q’s arguments are consistent with the idea that pollution is problematic; the dispute is about how widespread we should believe pollution is, not whether it’s a problem.
B
actions tend to follow the path of least resistance
Q makes this claim, but P never disagrees. In fact, P does not express any opinion about whether actions tend to follow the path of least resistance or some other path.
C
people are responsible for pollution
D
people can change their behavior and not pollute
Neither speaker talks about whether polluters can or cannot change their behavior. The discussion focuses on how widespread pollution might be based on available evidence, not the next steps to limit pollution.
E
people are inclined to pollute
P disagrees with this and Q agrees, making this the point of disagreement. P explicitly states that people have a disposition not to pollute. Q claims that actions follow the path of least resistance, which is to pollute, thus implying that people tend to pollute.

9 comments

Coffee and tea contain methylxanthines, which cause temporary increases in the natural production of vasopressin, a hormone produced by the pituitary gland. Vasopressin causes clumping of blood cells, and the clumping is more pronounced in women than in men. This is probably the explanation of the fact that women face as much as a tenfold higher risk than men do of complications following angioplasty, a technique used to clear clogged arteries.

Summary
Coffee and tea contain a substance (methylxanthines) that leads to temporary increases in the body’s production of vasopressin. Vasopressin causes clumping of blood cells, and this clumping is more pronounced in women than in men. Increased clumping of blood cells is probably why, compared to men, women have a significantly higher risk of complications following angioplasty, which is an operation for clearing clogged arteries.

Strongly Supported Conclusions
In at least one respect, coffee and tea may be more dangerous to women than to men.
Drinking excessive amounts of coffee or tea may lead to increased risk of complications following angioplasty.

A
Men, but not women, should be given methylxanthines prior to undergoing angioplasty.
Unsupported. We’re not given a reason anyone should be given methylxanthines ever. Maybe there’s nothing positive about methylxanthines.
B
In spite of the risks, angioplasty is the only effective treatment for clogged arteries.
Unsupported. We’re told angioplasty is one technique for unclogging arteries, but we don’t know whether there are any other techniques that could be effective.
C
Women probably drink more coffee and tea, on average, than do men.
Unsupported. The stimulus tells us about the effects of coffee and tea, but not about the number or proportion of men or women who drink coffee and tea.
D
Prior to undergoing angioplasty, women should avoid coffee and tea.
Strongly supported. Women face a higher risk of complications following angioplasty because clumping of blood cells is more pronounced in their bodies. Since coffee/tea increase substances that lead to clumping, there’s reason for women to avoid coffee/tea before angioplasty.
E
Angioplasty should not be used to treat clogged arteries.
Unsupported. Angioplasty may lead to complications, but that doesn’t imply that the technique is not worth the risk of complications.

21 comments

Artists have different ways of producing contours and hatching, and analysis of these stylistic features can help to distinguish works by a famous artist both from forgeries and from works genuinely by other artists. Indeed, this analysis has shown that many of the drawings formerly attributed to Michelangelo are actually by the artist Giulio Clovio, Michelangelo’s contemporary.

Summary

Artists have different ways of producing contours and hatching. Analyzing these stylistic features can help distinguish works by a famous artist from forgeries and from works by other artists. This analysis has shown some drawings formerly attributed to Michelangelo are actually by the artist Giulio Clovio.

Notable Valid Inferences

There is a noticeable difference between the stylistic features of Giulio Clovio and Michelangelo.

A
Contours and hatching are the main features that distinguish the drawing styles of different artists.

Could be false. To say that contours and hatching are the main features is too extreme. We only know that contours and hatching are some features to help distinguish works of art. It is possible there are many more features than these.

B
Many of the drawings formerly attributed to Michelangelo are actually forgeries.

Could be false. We only know that some of these former drawings are actually Giulio Clovio’s, but we can’t assume they are forgeries. It is possible that these drawings were only mistakenly attributed to Michelangelo, and Giulio Clovio never intended to forge the drawings.

C
No forgery can perfectly duplicate the contour and hatching styles of a famous artist.

Could be false. We only know that analyzing contours and hatching helps to distinguish works between famous artists and forgeries, but we can’t assume that this analysis is foolproof.

D
The contour and hatching styles used to identify the drawings of Clovio cited can be shown to be features of all Clovio’s works.

Could be false. The stimulus does not provide us any information about Clovio’s works to infer this statement. It is possible that Clovio’s style changed over time, so Clovio may not use the same features in all of his works.

E
There is an analyzable difference between Clovio’s contour and hatching styles and those of Michelangelo.

Must be true. We can infer that an analyzable difference exists because the analysis described in the stimulus did in fact help to show that some drawings formerly attributed to Michelangelo are actually by Clovio.


6 comments