PrepTest 111, Section 4, Question 15
Geneticist: Ethicists have fears, many of them reasonable,(70 more words not shown)
The claim that cloning will(17 more words not shown)
- AIt is a(15 more words not shown)
- BIt is evidence(8 more words not shown)
- CIt illustrates the(15 more words not shown)
- DIt is evidence(19 more words not shown)
- EIt is a(12 more words not shown)
Reading the argument
Cloning raises more than one possible concern. Someone might worry about being copied without consent, or about how a cloned person would be treated. So when the geneticist dismisses the horror-movie army, I want to know exactly which fear is being dismissed.
The explanation concerns personalities, not just genetic material. Clones would have to grow up and be educated. According to the geneticist, that process would not produce adults with exactly the original person's outlook, personality, and goals. Sharing genetic material wouldn't produce a collection of people who all think and want the same things as the original.
That doesn't settle every concern about how clones could be used. The geneticist goes on to raise the more realistic possibility of treating clones as sources of organs. Different personalities wouldn't make that concern disappear.
What we’re looking for
We're asked what the statement about nonidentical personalities does in the argument. It helps dismiss the particular image of an army of exact duplicates. It is a reason for narrowing the fear, not a reason to dismiss all worries about cloning.
Working the answers
- A
This is too broad. The geneticist opens by allowing that many fears are reasonable and closes by identifying another possible abuse. The personality point targets one fear. It isn't used to dismiss the various concerns as a group.
- B
A genetic duplicate doesn't have to be a duplicate in personality. The geneticist's statement denies the latter kind of identical adult; it doesn't show that producing genetic clones is impossible. B confuses the two meanings of being an exact duplicate that the argument carefully separates.
- C
Wealthy people appear in the scenarios, but the geneticist doesn't claim that only wealthy people could obtain clones. The statement about growing up and developing a personality also doesn't establish who could afford cloning. It serves a different purpose.
- D
Showing that a clone would have a different personality doesn't itself establish that someone might use the clone for organs. These are separate parts of the discussion: the first explains why one scenario is unrealistic, while the later statement introduces a different concern. D attaches the evidence to the wrong claim.
- ECorrect
The statement gives a reason to discount one specific fear: an army whose members are exact duplicates of the original in personality, outlook, and goals. The geneticist can reject that image while taking other potential abuses seriously. E preserves that limited role instead of turning it into a conclusion that cloning is safe or impossible.
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