PrepTest 149, Section 4, Question 24
All unemployed artists are sympathetic to social justice.(13 more words not shown)
If the claims made above(11 more words not shown)
- AIf there are(15 more words not shown)
- BAll artists uninterested(12 more words not shown)
- CEvery unemployed artist(9 more words not shown)
- DIf an artist(9 more words not shown)
- EAll artists are(15 more words not shown)
Reading the argument
Keep the employment categories separate. An unemployed artist is guaranteed to be sympathetic to social justice. An employed artist is guaranteed not to be interested in great personal fame.
What we’re looking for
Those rules might strike us as odd descriptions of artists, but we accept them for this question. They don't say that every artist interested in social justice is unemployed, or tell us everything unemployed artists want. For what must be true, let's follow the stated requirements and see which answer connects them.
Working the answers
- ACorrect
Consider an artist who wants great personal fame. That artist can't be employed, because employed artists are not interested in that prospect. The artist must therefore be unemployed, and the first rule says all unemployed artists are sympathetic to social justice. A follows the two rules in sequence. It doesn't require that such artists actually exist; it tells us what would follow if they do.
- B
Watch 'uninterested.' An artist who doesn't want fame could be employed; in fact, the second rule puts every employed artist in that category. But we aren't told whether employed artists are sympathetic to social justice. An employed artist who lacks both interests would obey the original rules and make B false. The problem isn't whether the artists exist. B starts with the wrong fame category for A's chain.
- C
Unemployment guarantees sympathy to social justice, not an interest in fame. An unemployed artist could care about social justice and have no wish to become famous. That possibility satisfies the premises while contradicting C.
- D
The rule says unemployed artists are sympathetic, not that they are the only sympathetic artists. An employed artist could care about social justice too, provided that artist isn't interested in great personal fame. D wrongly excludes that possibility.
- E
An employed artist has no interest in great personal fame, and the premises don't require that artist to be sympathetic to social justice. Such an artist could belong to neither group in E. We know unemployed artists satisfy one of E's alternatives, but that doesn't establish that all artists do.
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