PrepTest 102, Section 4, Question 18
Obviously, we cannot in any real sense mistreat(17 more words not shown)
The conclusion above follows logically(8 more words not shown)
- AAny organism that(6 more words not shown)
- BOnly organisms that(6 more words not shown)
- CAny organism that(7 more words not shown)
- DOnly organisms that(6 more words not shown)
- EAny organism that(7 more words not shown)
Reading the argument
If I neglect a plant until it dies, couldn't that count as mistreating it?
That is my first reaction to the confident opening. In ordinary language, we might also describe a house as badly treated when someone lets it fall apart. We can talk about damaging or neglecting something without assuming it feels the damage.
The author gives us a narrower basis for the conclusion. Plants have no nervous systems, and a nervous system is required to experience pain. Accept those premises, and plants can't experience pain. But the conclusion concerns mistreatment. We haven't yet connected being unable to feel pain with being unable to be mistreated.
What we’re looking for
The question asks for an assumption that makes the conclusion follow. My prediction is that experiencing pain must be required for being mistreated. A rule requiring a nervous system for mistreatment would also connect the relevant ideas. Either way, we need a restriction that excludes plants, not merely a description of some other organisms that can be mistreated.
Working the answers
- A
This tells us pain-capable organisms can be mistreated. It says nothing about organisms that can't feel pain. Both groups could be mistreated under A. We need to exclude the painless group, and saying the pain-capable group qualifies doesn't do that.
- B
This repeats the premise that experiencing pain requires a nervous system. We can already use that to establish that plants don't experience pain. Repeating the link doesn't carry us across the remaining gap to mistreatment.
- C
This says a nervous system is enough for experiencing pain. The original says it is required. But even if we add C, we still haven't been told how pain relates to mistreatment. C never supplies the connection needed for the conclusion.
- DCorrect
Only organisms capable of experiencing pain can be mistreated. Plants cannot experience pain because they lack the required nervous system. So they fail D's requirement for being mistreated. The whole chain now works: no nervous system, no capacity for pain; no capacity for pain, no mistreatment under this rule. We don't have to agree with the rule in ordinary life to recognize that it completes this argument.
- E
This includes organisms with nervous systems among those that can be mistreated. It doesn't exclude organisms without nervous systems. A rule saying one group can be mistreated leaves open whether another group can be too. We need the exclusion that D provides.
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