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- Sun Jul 20, 2014 11:00 pm
#34832
Complete Question Explanation
Assumption. The correct answer choice is (E)
In this stimulus, the author comes to the conclusion that humans generally cannot make wiser choices than they did in the past. The author reaches this conclusion based on the fact that humans’ emotional tendencies are essentially no different than the emotional tendencies of the earliest members of the human species. Based on this lack of change, the author says that despite the wider range of individual and societal choices made available to humans by technology, “humans are generally unable to choose more wisely.”
This argument is flawed because the conclusion discusses the ability of humans to choose, while that concept was not introduced by a premise. Because it was not introduced by a premise, it is not supported by the premises.
The question stem identifies this as an Assumption question. Because the conclusion contains new or “rogue” information that did not appear in the premises, we classify this as a Supporter Assumption question. We can prephrase that the correct answer choice will connect the new information in the conclusion, concerning the ability of humans to choose more wisely than they were able to choose in centuries past, with the premises. More specifically, we can take advantage of the structure of the argument, which essentially created a conditional statement comprised of the premise in the first sentence as the sufficient condition and the conclusion as the necessary condition. Stated together, that rule would be that if humans’ emotional tendencies are essentially no different than those of the earliest members of the human species, then humans are not able to choose more wisely than in centuries past. The correct answer choice will most likely contain a restatement of this rule, which we could diagram as:
changed emotional tendencies = humans’ emotional tendencies are different than those of the earliest members of the species
wiser choices = humans would now be able to make wiser choices
Answer choice (A): This answer choice is incorrect because it is more extreme than what is required for the conclusion to be valid. It does not have to be the case that humans have undergone no significant changes since the origin of the species.
Answer choice (B): Here the answer choice is incorrect because we do not know that the ability to control one’s emotions is one of the human tendencies referenced by the author.
Answer choice (C): The author spoke only of humans’ emotional tendencies, not about their knowledge or their ability to learn. So, we cannot say that heeding the lessons of history has anything to do with the conclusion, let alone that heeding those lessons is required for the conclusion to be valid.
Answer choice (D): This answer choice is too restrictive. For the conclusion to be valid, it does not have to be the case that humans choose on the basis of their emotions alone. The author said only that the fact that humans’ emotional tendencies have not changed means that their ability to choose more wisely has not changed.
Answer choice (E): This is the correct answer choice, because it essentially restates the rule discussed above, stated in the form of the contrapositive.
Assumption. The correct answer choice is (E)
In this stimulus, the author comes to the conclusion that humans generally cannot make wiser choices than they did in the past. The author reaches this conclusion based on the fact that humans’ emotional tendencies are essentially no different than the emotional tendencies of the earliest members of the human species. Based on this lack of change, the author says that despite the wider range of individual and societal choices made available to humans by technology, “humans are generally unable to choose more wisely.”
This argument is flawed because the conclusion discusses the ability of humans to choose, while that concept was not introduced by a premise. Because it was not introduced by a premise, it is not supported by the premises.
The question stem identifies this as an Assumption question. Because the conclusion contains new or “rogue” information that did not appear in the premises, we classify this as a Supporter Assumption question. We can prephrase that the correct answer choice will connect the new information in the conclusion, concerning the ability of humans to choose more wisely than they were able to choose in centuries past, with the premises. More specifically, we can take advantage of the structure of the argument, which essentially created a conditional statement comprised of the premise in the first sentence as the sufficient condition and the conclusion as the necessary condition. Stated together, that rule would be that if humans’ emotional tendencies are essentially no different than those of the earliest members of the human species, then humans are not able to choose more wisely than in centuries past. The correct answer choice will most likely contain a restatement of this rule, which we could diagram as:
changed emotional tendencies = humans’ emotional tendencies are different than those of the earliest members of the species
wiser choices = humans would now be able to make wiser choices
- Sufficient
Necessary
changed emotional tendencies 
wiser choices
- wiser choices changed emotional tendencies
Answer choice (A): This answer choice is incorrect because it is more extreme than what is required for the conclusion to be valid. It does not have to be the case that humans have undergone no significant changes since the origin of the species.
Answer choice (B): Here the answer choice is incorrect because we do not know that the ability to control one’s emotions is one of the human tendencies referenced by the author.
Answer choice (C): The author spoke only of humans’ emotional tendencies, not about their knowledge or their ability to learn. So, we cannot say that heeding the lessons of history has anything to do with the conclusion, let alone that heeding those lessons is required for the conclusion to be valid.
Answer choice (D): This answer choice is too restrictive. For the conclusion to be valid, it does not have to be the case that humans choose on the basis of their emotions alone. The author said only that the fact that humans’ emotional tendencies have not changed means that their ability to choose more wisely has not changed.
Answer choice (E): This is the correct answer choice, because it essentially restates the rule discussed above, stated in the form of the contrapositive.
