PrepTest 122, Section 1, Question 15
If all works of art evoke intense feelings,(46 more words not shown)
Which one of the following(13 more words not shown)
- AIf all classes(39 more words not shown)
- BIf all medical(37 more words not shown)
- CIf all vitamins(43 more words not shown)
- DIf all sciences(36 more words not shown)
- EIf all classes(33 more words not shown)
Reading the argument
The sculpture doesn't move us. Then something in the opening combination has to give.
Suppose every work of art evokes intense feelings, and suppose this sculpture is a work of art. Those two claims together would guarantee that the sculpture evokes intense feelings. The passage then tells us it doesn't. We can't keep both starting claims while accepting that result.
But which starting claim fails? Maybe the sculpture isn't art. Or maybe some art doesn't evoke intense feelings. The evidence doesn't force us to pick one. That's why the conclusion offers alternatives instead of announcing that both claims are false.
What we’re looking for
For the parallel question, keep those roles straight: a rule about every member of a group, a particular item said to belong to that group, the item lacking the promised feature, and the conclusion that at least one of the starting claims fails. We don't need an argument about feelings. We need that same chain of reasoning.
Working the answers
- A
The beginning fits: classes correspond to works of art, the biology lab to the sculpture, and cancellation to intense feelings. But then A says the lab isn't a class. That denies group membership, whereas the original tells us the predicted result doesn't occur. To match that step, A would need to say the biology lab isn't canceled. It denies the wrong piece.
- B
The setup and the missing result match: all medical research is significant, this research is medical, yet it isn't significant. Then B concludes that both starting claims are false. The original only establishes that they cannot both be true.
Maybe the research is medical and the rule has an exception. Or maybe all medical research is significant but this research isn't medical. Neither possibility requires both claims to fail. The word “and” makes B's conclusion stronger than the original's alternatives.
- CCorrect
Vitamins take the role of works of art; beta-carotene takes the role of the sculpture; safety in large doses takes the role of evoking intense feelings. If the rule and the classification were both true, beta-carotene would be safe in large doses. It isn't, so at least one must fail: either the rule about all vitamins or beta-carotene's classification as a vitamin.
The answer puts those alternatives in the opposite order. That changes nothing. “The rule fails or the item isn't in the group” means the same thing as “the item isn't in the group or the rule fails.”
- D
This also has the right setup and a missing result. But it selects just one explanation: clinical psychology isn't a science. What if it is a science and the rule that all sciences rely heavily on mathematics is false? The original keeps both possibilities open; D incorrectly rules one out.
- E
Here one starting condition, all classes being canceled, leads to two consequences: a holiday and a closed library. The original combines a general rule with a particular item's membership to reach one consequence. E's opening structure is different, even though it also ends with an “or” conclusion.
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