PrepTest 146, Section 3, Question 14
Seventeenth-century proponents of the philosophical school of thought(68 more words not shown)
The claim that the proliferation(28 more words not shown)
- AIt states a(7 more words not shown)
- BIt describes a(8 more words not shown)
- CIt introduces a(5 more words not shown)
- DIt provides evidence(8 more words not shown)
- EIt expresses the(4 more words not shown)
Reading the argument
People can use a philosophy to argue for a conclusion the philosophy doesn't actually support. So the existence of many arguments for monarchy doesn't, by itself, tell us that mechanism conflicts with democracy.
We don't need to know the details of mechanism to see that distinction. The philosophers might have applied its principles well, or they might have tried to bend them toward the government they preferred. The argument introduces an interpretation of their many attempts: perhaps the number of arguments is evidence that the principles oppose democracy.
The author challenges that interpretation. Maybe mechanism supports democracy, and the defenders of monarchy kept producing arguments because their earlier attempts hadn't worked. I initially wonder why failure would generate more arguments rather than fewer, but repeated efforts to rescue a position are at least an intelligible possibility. The author presents that as the more likely explanation without establishing much detail here.
What we’re looking for
For the role question, identify whose view the selected claim expresses. It's the interpretation the author pushes back against, not the author's own conclusion about what the proliferation means.
Working the answers
- A
The author isn't trying to establish that mechanism conflicts with democracy. The final sentence proposes the opposite view as more likely. The selected claim introduces something the argument challenges.
- B
The proliferation of arguments is the phenomenon to be explained. The selected claim goes further: it reports one interpretation of that phenomenon as evidence against democracy. The author challenges that interpretation while suggesting another explanation for the proliferation. B blurs the observed pattern with the hypothesis about what it means.
- CCorrect
The claim introduces the hypothesis that numerous pro-monarchy arguments reveal a tension between mechanism and democracy. The author challenges that hypothesis by suggesting that mechanism supports democracy and the repeated attempts at a pro-monarchy argument reflect failure instead.
- D
The claim isn't used as evidence for the author's alternative explanation. It's the competing interpretation the author rejects. Reporting another person's view doesn't automatically make that view a premise of one's own argument.
- E
The conclusion comes in the final sentence: it is more likely that mechanism supports democracy and that unsuccessful arguments prompted further attempts. The selected claim presents the view that this conclusion opposes.
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