Logical reasoning PrepTest 123 · Section 3 · Question 24

Question prompt

Sociologist:  Romantics who claim that Remaining source text redacted.
Why the credited answer is right

Credited answer: E

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

Cause & Effect / Principle Questions / Strengthen Questions

Stimulus Summary

Institutions are just collections of people, so romantics misunderstand the cause and effect between people and institutions, and therefore people can't be turned evil by their institutions.

Answer Anticipation

Romantics claim that people are not evil, but institutions might turn them evil. The Sociologist disagrees because institutions are made up of people, so the causality is mixed up—in other words, people cause institutions to be evil, not the other way around. So the Sociologist disagrees with the Romantics because they think that the whole—the institution—impacts the parts, whereas the Sociologist believes this is wrong and the whole can't determine the characteristics of the parts.

Answer choices

  1. A
    People acting together in Remaining source text redacted.
    Why choice A is not credited
    Incorrect. The amount of good or evil is outside the scope of the argument and thus can't justify the reasoning. What matters is whether people and institutions are good or evil, not how much impact they have.
  2. B
    Institutions formed by people Remaining source text redacted.
    Why choice B is not credited
    Incorrect. The Romantics are the ones who claim that these institutions are imperfect and turn people evil, so this answer choice doesn't justify the Sociologist's contention that they're wrong.
  3. C
    People should not be Remaining source text redacted.
    Why choice C is not credited
    Incorrect. The Sociologist argues about the relationship between people and institutions, not whether people are inherently good or evil. That difference, combined with this answer choice using "should" language when the stimulus doesn't, justifies eliminating it.
  4. D
    A society's institutions are Remaining source text redacted.
    Why choice D is not credited
    Incorrect. Using institutions as a gauge for values doesn't determine whether the individuals made the institutions good/evil, or the reverse. Since this argument is over the direction of causality, this answer choice doesn't help to justify it.
  5. E
    The whole does not Remaining source text redacted.
    Why choice E matches the stem
    Correct. The Sociologist argues that institutions can't make people easy because institutions are made up of people. In other words, the whole—institutions—can't determine the properties—evil or good—of the things that compose it—individuals. This answer choice justifies the Sociologists side of the argument and is therefore the correct answer.

What this tests

Question analytics

Based on historical answer selection rates for this question.

Answer choice distribution

  1. A 15%
  2. B 20%
  3. C 9%
  4. D 19%
  5. E Credited 36%

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