PrepTest 118, Section 1, Question 17
In practice the government will have the last(62 more words not shown)
Which one of the following(8 more words not shown)
- AIndividuals have no(10 more words not shown)
- BWhat government officials(11 more words not shown)
- CIndividuals have rights(8 more words not shown)
- DThe police always(13 more words not shown)
- EOne should always(15 more words not shown)
Reading the argument
The government can enforce its view of your rights. That doesn't automatically make its view right. Suppose a government punishes certain speech. A person may believe they have a moral right to speak, but that belief won't stop the police from enforcing the government's rule. That's the practical power the first sentence describes. We can accept that power without accepting that the government is morally correct.
The final sentence needs care. The author isn't saying governments literally grant zero legal rights. The concern is that, if moral rights were only whatever the government chose to grant, they would give us no independent basis for judging the government's decisions. The author uses that consequence to challenge the idea that the government must be right about rights.
What we’re looking for
Now identify the conclusion. The opening supplies the practical background, and the final reasoning explains the objection. The point between them is the one the author wants us to accept: the government's view may be incorrect. Its power to settle what happens doesn't settle what ought to count as a moral right.
Working the answers
- A
This is closer to the position the author challenges than to the author's conclusion. The author says someone who always accepts the government's view must treat moral rights as whatever government grants. That is presented as a problem with the position, not endorsed as the final answer about where all rights come from.
- BCorrect
This states the distinction the argument develops. Officials and courts can determine what the police enforce, yet their view of an individual's rights may still be wrong. The argument's practical observation and discussion of moral rights both lead us to that central point.
- C
The author doesn't give a rule that people have rights whenever the government has not denied them. The main point concerns whether the government's own view is correct, not what we can establish merely from its silence. C proposes a different rule about which rights people have, rather than restating the claim about the possible error in the government's judgment.
- D
Doing what officials and courts say isn't the same as agreeing with them. An officer could carry out an order while disagreeing with the view behind it. Even the stated claim about what police do serves as background about practical power; it isn't the conclusion about moral correctness.
- E
The author doesn't tell individuals always to resist the government's view. Saying the government can be wrong doesn't mean it always is wrong or that every disagreement should be met with resistance. E adds a recommendation the argument never makes.
More Role/Main Point questions
Learn the LSAT our way
Our platform drills Role/Main Point questions at your level and adjusts as you improve.