#18 - Hospitals, universities, labor unions, and other

[Administrator]

Complete Question Explanation

Must Be True. The correct answer choice is (B)

Your task in this Must Be True question is to select the answer choice that best expresses
a generalization illustrated by the stimulus. The statement in this stimulus is that the listed
organizations can be successful in achieving their purpose, even though the individual members of
the organization do not share that purpose. The correct answer will describe this idea in more general
terms, discussing the distinction between the organization and the individual members. The incorrect
answers each describe a difference between two things other than an organization and its members.

Answer choice (A): The distinction in the stimulus was between the organization and its constituent
members, not various organizations.

Answer choice (B): This is the correct answer choice.This choice provides an abstraction of the
difference presented in the stimulus between the public purposes of the organization and the selfish
purpose of the individual staff members.

Answer choice (C): Unlike the stimulus, the difference described here is between a person’s
expressed and actual motivations.

Answer choice (D): The difference in this choice is between the intended and actual consequences of
an organization’s actions.

Answer choice (E): In this choice, the difference is between the intended an actual use of an
instrument.

[rneuman123@gmail.com]

Hey. I was stuck between c and e here. Can someone explain why c and e are wrong and why d is correct. To me, d seems kind of opposite because the stimulus says whole organizations are selfish and put up altruistic façades.

[Nikki Siclunov]

Hi rneuman123@gmail.com,

The stimulus essentially illustrates while the part-to-whole argument (the "Error of Composition) is in fact a logical flaw: the whole (hospitals) may have an altruistic purpose even though the parts (staff members) are there for only selfish reasons.

The stem asks us to identify a generalization illustrated by this situation. The correct answer choice is (B), and not (D): the whole can have a property - altruism - that not all of its members possess. Answer choice (C) is incorrect, because there is no evidence that the staff members actually claim any altruistic motives. Answer choice (E) is incorrect, because the transference of purpose is completely unrelated to the situation described in the stimulus. Finally, answer choice (D) is incorrect, because the unintended consequences of those who founded the hospitals, etc. are never discussed.

Hope this helps!

Thanks,

[Atul_Manhattan]

Hi,

can we negate:
1. option E, becoz of "just as effectively"?
2. option D, becoz of "founded them"?
wrt option B, does "not all" means none of them.?

Please reply

Thanks in advance!

[Rachael Wilkenfeld]

Hi Atul,

It looks like you were looking at answer choices B, D, and E.

For answer choice (B), not all is not the same as none. "None" would mean 0 of them. There aren't any. "Not all" would mean everything but all, or 0-99 percent of them. It includes the idea of none, but also a broader idea that includes 1 percent, 2 percent, and so on up to 99 percent.

For answer choice (D) we have a few issues. First, as you point out, we know nothing about who founded these institutions. We can't determine what must be true without any information on the founders. Additionally, we don't know anything about unintended social consequences mentioned in the answer choice.

For answer choice (E) we don't know about the institutions serving multiple purposes. We know that different people may be acting for different reasons, but the institution itself isn't said to serve purposes other than those for which they were created.

Hope that helps!
Rachael

[KG!]

What does the term property in answer choice B refer to in the stimulus? Can someone do an answer choice to stimulus match up?

I think the term property threw me off because I wouldn't define "public purposes" and "success" as properties. I guess I would call them results.

[Adam Tyson]

"Property" in this case means a characteristic, KG. "Having a public purpose" is a characteristic of hospitals, university, or labor union. So is being successful at achieving that purpose. Those are both properties of those types of groups, according to the author.

[KG!]

"Property" in this case means a characteristic, KG. "Having a public purpose" is a characteristic of hospitals, university, or labor union. So is being successful at achieving that purpose. Those are both properties of those types of groups, according to the author.

Thanks! So drained by the test...I forgot about this synonym for property.

[yenisey]

Why it's not considered a principle question?

[Robert Carroll]

yenisey,

This is in fact a Principle - Must Be True question! "Principle" is not a question type; the question type of "Must Be True", and the principle element just means there is a general rule somewhere (for this question, in the answer).

Robert Carroll