PrepTest 138, Section 4, Question 22
One of the most useful social conventions is(41 more words not shown)
The argument's conclusion is properly(9 more words not shown)
- ASome societies have(13 more words not shown)
- BLanguage emerged independently(9 more words not shown)
- CUniversal features of(11 more words not shown)
- DIf money were(8 more words not shown)
- ENo human society(10 more words not shown)
Reading the argument
Why couldn't money have been invented once and then spread?
Being a human invention doesn't mean something must be independently reinvented wherever it appears. Imagine one society developing a convenient way to exchange goods and neighboring societies adopting the idea. The practice could keep spreading because it is useful. Money's widespread use would then fit a shared origin rather than several independent origins.
What we’re looking for
The contrast with language doesn't settle that history. Language is described as rooted in an innate ability, while money is invented. But we still need to know how the invention reached all these societies. The sufficient-assumption question asks for something that makes the multiple-origin conclusion follow. Look for information that rules out the possibility that everyone simply obtained the idea from somewhere else.
Working the answers
- ACorrect
Some societies were isolated enough to have no influence from any other society. Combine that with the premise that money is universal across societies: these isolated societies also have money, but they couldn't have adopted it through outside influence.
Imagine one such society alongside the rest of the world. If money is present on both sides and the isolated society had no influence from the other side, a single invention spreading between them cannot explain both. Money, being an invention rather than an innate ability, must have arisen independently in more than one society. A supplies the historical separation that the original artificial-versus-innate contrast lacked.
- B
Independent emergence of language doesn't establish independent invention of money. The argument expressly distinguishes the two: one is rooted in an innate ability, while the other is an invention. We can't transfer a proposed history of language to money without a connection.
- C
This gives a rule about universal features that are not inventions. Money is explicitly an invention, so it falls outside the rule's stated category. C doesn't tell us whether a human invention spread from one society or arose separately in several.
- D
Usefulness could help explain why money spread widely after being invented once. It doesn't establish several independent inventions. Both the author's account and the single-origin possibility can accommodate money being useful.
- E
Continuing to use money after adopting it concerns what happened afterward. A society could keep using money whether it invented the convention itself or adopted it from another society. Persistence doesn't establish origin.
More Sufficient Assumption questions
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