PrepTest 148, Section 2, Question 6
The following passage is adapted from a journal(460 more words not shown)
Which one of the following(17 more words not shown)
- AMost people value(14 more words not shown)
- BIt is impossible(15 more words not shown)
- CSome people would(23 more words not shown)
- DFew people believe(13 more words not shown)
- EPeople tend to(12 more words not shown)
Reading the passage
First isolate the claim we're attacking: any individual in the original position would agree that everyone should receive at least a minimum amount of the primary goods. The idea is that, without knowing your future position, you would protect yourself by guaranteeing a floor for everyone.
What we’re looking for
But would everyone choose that protection? Some people might prefer a gamble with a chance of a much larger reward, even if it means risking a severe loss. We want a reason someone could reject the guaranteed minimum while still choosing under the thought experiment's conditions.
Working the answers
- A
Self-interest is already part of the original position. People don't know which circumstances will be theirs, so concern for themselves is supposed to help explain the protection they would choose. This doesn't show that someone would reject the minimum.
- B
This challenges whether we can literally create the imagined situation. It doesn't show what a person would choose within it. The question targets the claim about agreement under those conditions, not the practical feasibility of making people forget their lives.
- CCorrect
These people would accept the risk of receiving none of one primary good in exchange for a chance at much more of another. That lottery-ticket preference challenges the prediction that every person would insist on a minimum of each. The issue is rejecting a guaranteed floor, not merely preferring unequal amounts above it.
- D
Wanting more than the minimum is compatible with guaranteeing that nobody receives less. A minimum is a floor, not a ceiling or a promise of complete satisfaction.
- E
Mistaken estimates could affect how generous people think the guarantee can be. They don't directly show that people would oppose having a minimum guarantee at all. C gives us the clearer reason to reject the specific agreement being predicted.
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