PrepTest 107, Section 4, Question 18
All actions are motivated by self-interest, since any(44 more words not shown)
Which one of the following(9 more words not shown)
- AThe term "self-interest"(12 more words not shown)
- BThe argument takes(20 more words not shown)
- CThe argument does(10 more words not shown)
- DThe argument ignores(27 more words not shown)
- EThe argument depends(12 more words not shown)
Reading the argument
All actions? That is a broad claim to support with a discussion of acts that look generous.
The author focuses on apparently altruistic actions—actions that seem to help others without concern for personal gain. Helping someone is the example. The author offers a self-interested account of that help: the helper hopes for a reward or some other personal benefit. I can understand how that account would work. Someone might help because they expect something in return.
My first concern is the range of actions being discussed. The conclusion covers every human action, while the explanation concentrates on apparently altruistic ones. What about the other actions? How does this discussion support such a broad conclusion?
What we’re looking for
That's the concern I'd take into the flaw question. But we should be willing to refine it as we examine the answers. An initial objection is a starting point, and the correct choice may identify a more precise problem in the actual reasoning.
Working the answers
- A
“Self-interest” keeps the same relevant meaning: acting for one's own benefit. Hoping for a reward or another personal benefit fits that meaning. We are not shown a shift from one definition to another. The problem is whether the proposed motive has been established, not what the term means.
- BCorrect
This gives us a more precise way to state the problem than the initial concern about the range of actions discussed. Being able to describe a helpful act as self-interested does not show that self-interest actually motivated it.
Suppose someone helps a neighbor. We can tell a story in which the helper hopes for a favor in return. But we can also imagine the helper acting out of concern for the neighbor without expecting a reward. Merely being able to tell the first story does not establish that it is the true one. The author treats a possible explanation as an established explanation and then uses it to defend the claim about all actions.
- C
Defining “reward” and “personal benefit” would not solve the problem. We can understand those ordinary words perfectly well and still ask whether the helper actually expected either one. The missing support concerns the motive, not a missing definition.
- D
This describes a confusion between what a motivation requires and what would be enough to establish it. The author does not set out a requirement and then mistakenly treat it as sufficient. The mistake is moving from a possible description of an action to a claim about its actual motivation.
- E
The example is used to propose a self-interested motive for helping someone. The reasoning does not depend solely on making us feel sympathy, anger, or another emotion. We can reject the inference while having no particular emotional reaction to the example.
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