Logical reasoning PrepTest 157 · Section 3 · Question 3

This doesn't reflect any of the three anticipations we made, so we can swiftly eliminate (A). Besides, it seems like Bernard and Ayla are in agreement on this issue. Neither wants to legitimize Carl's false views. Bernard just thinks that inviting Carl to speak will legitimize his views, while Ayla thinks that challenging Carl's views will de-legitimize them.

This doesn't reflect any of the three anticipations we made, so let's cross off (B). Besides, while we can infer that Bernard would agree with this answer choice, it is so boldly worded that we don't know whether Ayla agrees with it. Ayla thinks counterarguments are "the best way" to challenge dangerous ideas. But that doesn't imply that Ayla thinks that counterarguments will falsify "every dangerous idea" the public faces. Even Ayla may acknowledge that some dangerous ideas will survive counterarguments.

This matches our third anticipation! Ayla would quite obviously agree with this statement, given that she expresses it in the first sentence. We also have good reason to believe that Bernard would disagree with this statement. He says that allowing one to speak publicly "encourages" the consideration of their false views, thereby legitimizing those views and helping to "support their adoption." So, Bernard thinks that public expression of erroneous ideas encourages the adoption of those views. So, he would almost certainly disagree with the idea that the best way to fight erroneous ideas involves allowing the public expression of these ideas.

Since Ayla would agree with (C) and Bernard would disagree with it, we can select (C) and advance to the following question.

This doesn't reflect any of the three anticipations we made, so we can cross off (D) without hesitating. Besides, this answer choice is so boldly worded that we can't tell whether either Bernard or Ayla would agree with it. Bernard says that Carl's ideas are both false and dangerous, but that doesn't mean Bernard thinks that everyone who holds false views poses a danger to society. Perhaps he would acknowledge that some people possess harmless false ideas. Plus, Ayala doesn't even state or imply that Carl's ideas are dangerous, so we don't know what she thinks about the relationship between false and dangerous ideas.

This doesn't reflect any of the three anticipations we made, so we can toss (E) aside. Besides, it seems like Bernard and Ayla agree on this issue. Bernard doesn't want to legitimize what he calls Carl's false and dangerous views. Although Ayla doesn't say that Carl's views are dangerous, she calls his views false and wants to refute them publicly. If she thinks it's important to combat false views, it would stand to reason that she would want to refute dangerous views as well.