Logical reasoning PrepTest 123 · Section 3 · Question 21

Question prompt

Ethicist:  On average, animals raised Remaining source text redacted.
Why the credited answer is right

Credited answer: B

The notes below walk through why it fits the stem and how to eliminate the rest.

Argument or Facts

Argument

Valid or Flawed

Flawed

Question Type

Weaken Questions

Stimulus Summary

Raising meat requires a lot of grain. The grain used for meat can feed a lot more people than the meat. As the amount of grain grown levels off, less farmland is available, and the population increases, it will soon be wrong to eat meat.

Answer Anticipation

The conclusion here is rather extreme. It doesn't state that people should eat less meat, or it's important to shift our diets to include more grain, but rather that it will be wrong to consume any amount of meat. Why? Because the population is increasing, they'll need to eat something, and meat raised on grain takes a whole lot of grain to raise.
If people are going to start starving, then we can say that it's morally right to do things to prevent that. But do we have to cut out all meat consumption to make sure there's enough food to feed everyone? The stimulus raises some considerations about how much grain it takes to raise meat, but, on balance, it might be sufficient to decrease our meat consumption rather than end it. Any answer that raises a consideration suggesting that there will be times when it's fine to eat meat would weaken the conclusion that we need to cut it out completely.

Answer choices

  1. A
    Even though it has Remaining source text redacted.
    Why choice A is not credited
    Incorrect. Preferences and willingness to pay are not relevant to the conclusion about moral acceptability. Even if a rich guy wants to buy a steak, if that's going to cause people to starve, it'd still be wrong.
  2. B
    Often, cattle or sheep Remaining source text redacted.
    Why choice B matches the stem
    Correct. This answer choice raises a consideration that gets around the reasoning in the stimulus. There, eating meat is wrong because the grain and farmland used to raise it would feed more people if it weren't used for meat. This answer choice brings up that meat can be raised on grass (not grain, and people can't eat grass) in a place that we can't raise other types of food. If this is the case, then there is a way to raise meat that wouldn't decrease the available food for others, and so there might be a morally acceptable way to get meat for consumption. Since this answer choice undercuts the reasoning behind the meat ban, it's the correct answer.
  3. C
    If a grain diet Remaining source text redacted.
    Why choice C is not credited
    Incorrect. This answer choice is trying to get you to select it by thinking that if we can supplement a grain diet to be equivalent to that of meat, then maybe we need less grain and can use some to raise meat. However, since these protein sources are also non-animal sources, it might require the farmland to grow, and thus there wouldn't be room for animals. There are too many jumps here, so it's incorrect.
  4. D
    Although prime farmland near Remaining source text redacted.
    Why choice D is not credited
    Incorrect. Tempting answer! It's suggesting that we can stop/reverse the loss in farmland by changing where we live. But first, just because we can do it doesn't mean we will, so we might still need to give up meat. And second, there might be other reasons that farmland is going out of production that will continue and result in hunger that have nothing to do with relocating humans.
  5. E
    Nutritionists agree that a Remaining source text redacted.
    Why choice E is not credited
    Incorrect. If anything, this answer choice suggests that maybe humans should be eating meat in order to maintain health. However, it doesn't get into what besides grain is required for human health—maybe it's vegetables. There's not enough information here to know if this undermines the conclusion, and with what's provided, there's an argument it supports the conclusion, so it's wrong.

What this tests

Question analytics

Based on historical answer selection rates for this question.

Answer choice distribution

  1. A 10%
  2. B Credited 44%
  3. C 9%
  4. D 6%
  5. E 31%

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