#19 - Raphaela: Forcing people to help others is morally

[pacer]

I am having trouble with interpretation of the answer choices for this question.

I was able to understand the stimulus and prephrased that the two speakers are in disagreement about whether governments have the right to distribute resources.

But when it came to the answer choices,

I eliminated A, B and E because only speaker 2 talks about emigration and we do not know for sure about speaker 1's point of view if emigration is allowed.

and choice D is more in line with speaker 1 only.

Can you go over this question? Also, Can you give some pointers on such a question (especially going from the prephrased answer to the choices)?

Thanks,

Pacer

[David Boyle]

I am having trouble with interpretation of the answer choices for this question.

I was able to understand the stimulus and prephrased that the two speakers are in disagreement about whether governments have the right to distribute resources.

But when it came to the answer choices,

I eliminated A, B and E because only speaker 2 talks about emigration and we do not know for sure about speaker 1's point of view if emigration is allowed.

and choice D is more in line with speaker 1 only.

Can you go over this question? Also, Can you give some pointers on such a question (especially going from the prephrased answer to the choices)?

Thanks,

Pacer

Hello Pacer,

While Raphaela does not mention "emigration" per se, she deals with it implicitly, in that she says, "Therefore, no government has the right to redistribute resources via taxation." That covers all circumstances whatsoever, which naturally includes the emigration issue, even if emigration is not explicitly named.
So, she and Edward do disagree on emigration being used as a reason to allow redistribution/taxation.

As for prephrasing in general, that is a broad topic. However, the example I just gave above, may be of some help. That is, that even if something is not covered explicitly (like emigration), it may be covered implicitly anyway. So, a broad prephrase can help.

Hope this helps,
David

[nutcracker]

Hello,

I hesitated between (B) and (D) and ended up picking the wrong (D). I feel that the statement in (D) is something with which Raphaela would agree and Edward would disagree. In my understanding, Edward means that governments that give people the freedom to leave are not forcing people to help others when they redistribute resources via taxation. Am I assuming too much? I would appreciate an explanation. Thanks!

[Shannon Parker]

Hello,

I hesitated between (B) and (D) and ended up picking the wrong (D). I feel that the statement in (D) is something with which Raphaela would agree and Edward would disagree. In my understanding, Edward means that governments that give people the freedom to leave are not forcing people to help others when they redistribute resources via taxation. Am I assuming too much? I would appreciate an explanation. Thanks!

Hello,

I can see why it is a little confusing. The point is that Raphaela and Edward disagree on whether or not Countries should be allowed to redistribute resources. We do not actually know either of their positions on emigration. Answer choice "B" is that "any government that permits emigration has the right to redistribute resources via taxation." We already know that Raphaela does not believe this "no government has the right," and Edward does "insofar as they give people the freedom to leave."

Therefore answer choice "B" is the correct answer.

Hope this clears it up.

[mab9178]

Hi,

I read D as a point of agreement between R and E.; and because the question is about a point of disagreement, D should be eliminated

However, Shannon's reply omits that D is a point of agreement.

Isn't D a point of agreement?

Thank you
Mazen

[Adam Tyson]

It's not clear to me that Edward agrees with that statement, Mazen. Edward thinks governments do have the right to redistribute resources via taxation, but doesn't indicate whether that is a way of forcing people to help others. I think it's reasonable to think that's true, but since it isn't absolutely clear from the text I would not call it a point of agreement. Maybe just a point on which they probably agree?

[lonvely]

Hello.
I understood speaker 2's statement as a conditional holding that 'if the government has the right to redistribute resources via taxation, then it must give people the freedom to leave'--not the other way around, as the correct AC suggests. I interpreted 'insofar' to mean something similar to 'as long as,' which seemed to me to introduce a necessary condition. Does 'insofar' actually introduce a sufficient condition? I'd appreciate some clarification here. Thanks.

[Luke Haqq]

Hi lonvely!

Yes, "insofar" can introduce a sufficient condition rather than a necessary one. For example, take the statement, "If it is raining outside, then I will wear a coat." Another phrasing that conveys the same thing could be, "Insofar as it is raining outside, I will wear a coat."