PrepTest 121, Section 1, Question 26
Reza: Language requires the use of verbal signs(49 more words not shown)
If all of Reza's statements(12 more words not shown)
- AConceptual thought is(3 more words not shown)
- BConceptual thought requires(7 more words not shown)
- CIt is not(6 more words not shown)
- DAll humans are(4 more words not shown)
- EThe vocal expressions(10 more words not shown)
Reading the argument
When Reza says “verbal signs for objects,” think of a word such as “pen.” The word points to an object. To use it that way, we need to distinguish the pen from something else, such as a phone. Reza says making that distinction requires conceptual thought.
Now connect that to the opening claim. Language requires words for objects as well as feelings. Words for objects require distinguishing the objects. Distinguishing them requires conceptual thought. Each requirement leads to the next, so language depends on conceptual thought too. We haven't been told that having thought is enough to give someone language; we've been told why language needs it.
What we’re looking for
I half expected a conclusion about animals after the hunger example. But Reza doesn't draw one. The question asks what must follow if all these statements are true, so we should follow the stated requirements rather than invent a broader claim about animal abilities. My prediction is that we can connect the beginning and end of the chain: language requires conceptual thought.
Working the answers
- ACorrect
Language requires verbal signs for objects; using those signs requires distinguishing the objects; and that distinction requires conceptual thought. We cannot meet the first requirement without meeting the later ones. A brings the chain together. The hunger example gives background, but the first and last sentences supply the links that prove this answer.
- B
This puts the requirement in the wrong direction. We're told that using words for objects requires conceptual thought. B says conceptual thought requires those words. Someone might think about a distinction without having a word for it; Reza's statements don't rule that out.
Return to the pen and phone. Naming them requires distinguishing them, which requires thought. That doesn't tell us that every instance of thought requires naming an object. B turns a requirement for using words into a requirement for thinking.
- C
Nothing rules out thinking conceptually about feelings. Reza discusses the role of thought in distinguishing objects, but that doesn't make objects the only possible subject of thought. We can't turn a statement about one use of an ability into a ban on other uses.
- D
Saying only humans can ask for an egg or an apple by name doesn't say every human can do it. And the passage doesn't independently establish conceptual thought for every human. Identifying the group an ability is restricted to isn't the same as giving that ability to every member of the group.
- E
An animal might use thought when expressing hunger without meeting all of Reza's requirements for language. Perhaps it recognizes hunger and makes a sound to get food. That's a possibility the passage doesn't exclude. Knowing that language requires conceptual thought doesn't establish that vocal expressions outside language require no thought.
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