#24 - If an external force intervenes to give members of a community political

[Administrator]

Complete Question Explanation

Strengthen, Principle. The correct answer choice is (C).

Answer choice (A):

Answer choice (B):

Answer choice (C): This is the correct answer choice.

Answer choice (D):

Answer choice (E):

This explanation is still in progress. Please post any questions below!

[baughy878]

I ruled out answer C because it used absolute terms ("cannot"), while the stimulus used more lax language ("best chance" and "will almost surely").

I'm also a bit confused on what I should be looking for when finding the correct "principle". Am I looking a general rule that MBT or something else?

[Chandler H]

I ruled out answer C because it used absolute terms ("cannot"), while the stimulus used more lax language ("best chance" and "will almost surely").

I'm also a bit confused on what I should be looking for when finding the correct "principle". Am I looking a general rule that MBT or something else?

Hi baughy878,

Good question. The trick here is in the wording of the question stem: it is asking for something that "conforms most closely" to a "principle." A principle will always be absolute, because it is a fundamental truth. For example, I could say, "You'll probably tip your waiter at dinner tonight, because you conform to the social principle that you should tip waiters." It's OK that I said "probably," because my statement is still conforming to a stated principle.

It's probably most helpful to think of a principle as an abstract or general rule, but not a Must Be True—that implies a higher burden of proof than what we generally see in principle questions.

[nicizle]

Hi there,

I got this question correct, but why are B and E incorrect?

[Adam Tyson]

Answer B does nothing to strengthen the argument, nicizle, because it fails to link the premises to the conclusion. The correct answer needs to somehow link "the political virtues necessary for maintaining freedom" from the premise to "will almost surely fail to be truly free" in the conclusion, and answer B does not address either of those concepts. Adding the claim in answer B to the argument doesn't do anything to support the claim that these communities will fail to be truly free, because what virtue comes first isn't relevant. The argument doesn't follow that principle.

Answer E also does nothing to support the conclusion because it doesn't matter what should or should not happen; it only matters what WILL happen if external forces do intervene. Adding "Real freedom should not be imposed on a community by external forces" to the argument doesn't have any bearing on whether communities that have freedom imposed on them will succeed or fail. The argument doesn't follow that principle, either.