#23 - Concept Reference, Must Be True, Author's Perspective

[Administrator]

Complete Question Explanation

The correct answer choice is (D).

Answer choice (A):

Answer choice (B):

Answer choice (C):

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

Answer choice (E):

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

[jasmine24]

Can someone help me see why D is a better choice than C?

The question stem asks that we find the author's POV about "rules compelling coordination of people's activities." From my understanding of the passage, this likely means the answer can be supported by text from paragraph 2 or 3, as both are about coordination.

I see how this section of text also discusses consent ("if people could be assured that others would also agree" line 23) as an assumption required to impose a legitimate rule. But the whole text seems to be framed under the assumption that we need to use criminal penalties to make this enforceable. For example, on lines 21-23, the author discusses a "coordination rule backed by criminal sanctions". Furthermore, the opening line gives us the "some say...but..." framework, setting us up to believe that the author disagrees with "many legal theorists" and thinks that there are actually other morally legitimate goals to impose criminal penalties besides direct harm prevention. Because the concept of criminal penalties frames the argument, it seems reasonable to view that is "generally necessary" for imposing rules.

The only way I can think to counter myself is that the question stem asks for what would JUSTIFY such rules, rather than perhaps what would be necessary to implement such rules or make them functional.

I hope this makes sense. Thanks very much in advance for the help!

[Jeff Wren]

Hi jasmine,

The question asks for which factor would the author consider "generally necessary for the justification of rules compelling coordination of activities" (my emphasis). The word "justification" here refers to moral justification. In other words, what is necessary for these types of rules to be morally justified, or "fair."

The key idea in this passage is that the goal of preventing harm can be used to justify laws against certain nonconforming behaviors. This is stated in lines 7-11 and in the correct Answer E to question 22 regarding the Main Point of the passage.

The key lines that answer help answer this question are 21-25. "On the assumption that all people would voluntarily agree to be subject to a coordination rule backed by criminal sanctions, if people could be assured that others would also agree, it is argued to be legitimate for a legislature to impose such a rule" (my emphasis).

The important point to note in this sentence is that the necessary part (or factor) for the rule to be legitimate is that everyone "voluntarily agree," not that the rule is backed by criminal sanctions. While the criminal sanctions may be necessary to enforce the rule as you point out, they are not what morally justify the rule. For example, if a government passed a law that everyone must wear yellow clothes on Tuesdays and backed the rule by criminal sanctions, this would not be morally justified (unless everyone agreed to such a rule).

Notice that the word "consent" in the answer is a synonym for "voluntarily agree" in the passage and the word "legitimate" is basically a synonym for "justified." The test makers often used synonyms in the correct answers to "hide" them.