PrepTest 106, Section 3, Question 15
Human beings have cognitive faculties that are superior(27 more words not shown)
Which one of the following(10 more words not shown)
- ACertain animals—dolphins and(9 more words not shown)
- BMany people familiar(12 more words not shown)
- CSomeone who never(14 more words not shown)
- DMany people who(8 more words not shown)
- EMany people who(6 more words not shown)
Reading the argument
What about a really good meal?
Intellectual stimulation can make people happy. Solving a difficult problem or winning a demanding chess game can be satisfying. But the passage makes a much stronger claim: once we know about our higher mental abilities, nothing can make us happy without satisfying those abilities. Why couldn't we still enjoy an ordinary physical pleasure?
A beautiful sunset also comes to mind, though someone might argue that appreciating it engages the very abilities the author means. That is a useful caution. To challenge the claim, we want a clear alternative source of happiness, not just an activity that could involve intellectual satisfaction after all.
What we’re looking for
The weaken question asks for evidence against this requirement. I'd look for people who know what intellectual stimulation is like but can find happiness in something else. The awareness condition matters: the claim isn't about someone who has never experienced those higher abilities.
Working the answers
- A
Rational communication in dolphins and chimpanzees doesn't tell us what makes humans happy. It doesn't even establish that their abilities equal or exceed ours. The human-happiness requirement could still be true even if these animals have impressive communication skills.
- BCorrect
These people know both intellectual stimulation and physical pleasure, and they enjoy the physical pleasure more. That is evidence that people familiar with their mental abilities can still get substantial satisfaction from another kind of experience.
This challenges the insistence that happiness must involve gratifying the higher faculties. We don't have to show that thinking is bad or that these people dislike intellectual activity. The problem is the claim that intellectual gratification is required; B gives us people whose greater enjoyment comes from the physical alternative.
- C
A preference for one kind of music over another doesn't separate intellectual gratification from other pleasure. Either kind might engage a listener's mental abilities. Nor does the answer establish the familiarity required by the author's condition. Childhood musical exposure doesn't settle the claim about what happiness requires.
- D
What is making the athletes happy? Competition can involve planning, problem-solving, and satisfying challenges. They might also be happy because of intellectual interests outside their sport. Even accepting their report of happiness, D doesn't show that it comes without the mental gratification the author requires.
- E
The food is close to the example we wanted, but the answer doesn't complete the comparison. We don't know whether these athletes are familiar with intellectual stimulation or whether their pleasure in gourmet food involves satisfying their mental abilities. B explicitly gives us people familiar with both types of pleasure and tells us which they enjoy more. E merely identifies a group that likes a particular food experience.
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