PrepTest 117, Section 4, Question 24
Some people have maintained that private ownership of(66 more words not shown)
The proposition that private ownership(23 more words not shown)
- AIt is a(20 more words not shown)
- BIt is a(10 more words not shown)
- CIt is a(26 more words not shown)
- DIt is a(20 more words not shown)
- EIt is a(28 more words not shown)
Reading the argument
What if the society already has enough technology? The author thinks restricting independent experimentation endangers an advanced society's survival. That assumes continued technological development matters to its survival, rather than merely being something we'd like to have.
But the question isn't asking us to attack that assumption. It asks what the opening claim does in the argument. First find the author's own point: for a technologically advanced society, making the means of production public property would endanger survival.
What we’re looking for
Now compare that with the opening claim, attributed to other people: private ownership destroys any society that allows it. The author leaves room for that claim in societies that depend on sharing resources, then pushes back when it comes to advanced societies. We're looking for a description of the general claim being challenged in that second setting.
Working the answers
- A
The direction is wrong. The author allows that the claim may fit a less advanced society that needs to share resources, but argues against applying it to an advanced society. A says the claim is no more applicable to the less advanced case. That erases the very distinction the argument draws.
- B
The author isn't explaining why so many people believe the opening claim. The author is evaluating where that claim might and might not apply. Mentioning that some people maintain a view is not an explanation of its popularity.
- CCorrect
The general hypothesis is that private ownership destroys any society that permits it. The author challenges that hypothesis for societies whose survival depends more on introducing new technology than on sharing economic resources.
That wording captures the contrast in the argument. Sharing might be essential in the less advanced setting; independent experimentation matters in the advanced setting. The author uses the second case to resist the opening claim's application to every society.
- D
Any society goes too far. The author doesn't reject an economic arrangement as incompatible with every society's needs. The entire argument distinguishes two settings and allows that their needs may differ. A blanket rejection loses that qualification.
- E
This says the author treats the opening claim as true whenever the majority doesn't impede new technology. But the discussion of independent technological experimentation supports the author's defense of private ownership in advanced societies, not a claim that private ownership destroys them. E attaches the technology discussion to the wrong position.
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