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- Tue May 31, 2016 6:02 pm
#25852
Complete Question Explanation
Justify the Conclusion. The correct answer choice is (B)
This is a very straightforward Justify the Conclusion question, with a highly specific prephrase. It is unusual to find such a reasonable question at this point in a Logical Reasoning section.
The business ethicist reaches a conclusion that is supported by only one explicit premise. The ethicist states that managers of a corporation have an obligation to serve shareholders as the shareholders would want to be served. Based on that obligation, the ethicist concludes that corporate managers have an obligation to act in the shareholders’ best interest.
The idea of acting in the shareholders’ best interest appears for the first time in the conclusion. Because this is a Justify the Conclusion question, this unsupported information must be connected to the premise. Since the concept of obligation appears in both the premise and the conclusion, it is the previously unconnected portion of the premise, serving the shareholders as the shareholders would want to be treated, that needs to be linked. Providing this linkage, the argument would be:
Answer choice (A): This choice is incorrect because it provides information that would strengthen a conclusion about what managers are capable of doing, but that is irrelevant to this conclusion, which is about what managers are obligated to do.
Answer choice (B): This is the correct answer choice, because it expressly provides the link between previously unconnected portions of the premise and the conclusion, removing the logical gap present in the argument. Notice the use of the word “only,” which creates the very definitive link, with no remaining grey area, required of a Justify the Conclusion answer choice.
Answer choice (C): The relative importance of the managers’ obligations is not relevant to the conclusion that they have an obligation to act in the shareholders’ best interest.
Answer choice (D): This choice is incorrect because the argument was not concerned with who can best meet the needs of the shareholders. Instead, the argument was constrained to what the obligations of the managers to the shareholders were.
Answer choice (E): This choice may have been attractive to you because the conclusion implies that the shareholders each want to be treated in a way consistent with their individual best interest. However, remember that the function of the correct answer choice in this question is to provide that very link. This choice does not provide any information concerning the shareholders’ desire to be served in ways that promote their own best interest, and so is incorrect.
Justify the Conclusion. The correct answer choice is (B)
This is a very straightforward Justify the Conclusion question, with a highly specific prephrase. It is unusual to find such a reasonable question at this point in a Logical Reasoning section.
The business ethicist reaches a conclusion that is supported by only one explicit premise. The ethicist states that managers of a corporation have an obligation to serve shareholders as the shareholders would want to be served. Based on that obligation, the ethicist concludes that corporate managers have an obligation to act in the shareholders’ best interest.
The idea of acting in the shareholders’ best interest appears for the first time in the conclusion. Because this is a Justify the Conclusion question, this unsupported information must be connected to the premise. Since the concept of obligation appears in both the premise and the conclusion, it is the previously unconnected portion of the premise, serving the shareholders as the shareholders would want to be treated, that needs to be linked. Providing this linkage, the argument would be:
- Premise: managers of corporations have an obligation to serve shareholders as the shareholders would want to be served
Link: shareholders would want to be served in a way that is in their best interest
Conclusion: thus, corporate managers have an obligation to act in the shareholders’ best interest
Answer choice (A): This choice is incorrect because it provides information that would strengthen a conclusion about what managers are capable of doing, but that is irrelevant to this conclusion, which is about what managers are obligated to do.
Answer choice (B): This is the correct answer choice, because it expressly provides the link between previously unconnected portions of the premise and the conclusion, removing the logical gap present in the argument. Notice the use of the word “only,” which creates the very definitive link, with no remaining grey area, required of a Justify the Conclusion answer choice.
Answer choice (C): The relative importance of the managers’ obligations is not relevant to the conclusion that they have an obligation to act in the shareholders’ best interest.
Answer choice (D): This choice is incorrect because the argument was not concerned with who can best meet the needs of the shareholders. Instead, the argument was constrained to what the obligations of the managers to the shareholders were.
Answer choice (E): This choice may have been attractive to you because the conclusion implies that the shareholders each want to be treated in a way consistent with their individual best interest. However, remember that the function of the correct answer choice in this question is to provide that very link. This choice does not provide any information concerning the shareholders’ desire to be served in ways that promote their own best interest, and so is incorrect.