PrepTest 154, Section 1, Question 2
Classicist: In the ancient Athenian democracy, unlike in(47 more words not shown)
The conclusion of the classicist's(11 more words not shown)
- AMost political systems(7 more words not shown)
- BPublic debate is(8 more words not shown)
- CAthens was the(11 more words not shown)
- DA political system(16 more words not shown)
- EMost Athenians who(14 more words not shown)
Reading the argument
What counts as a true democracy?
Athens had a striking arrangement: eligible voters themselves made the political decisions, instead of electing people to decide for them. That explains how this system differed from the others described. It doesn't yet explain why only that system could qualify as a true democracy. The classicist hasn't told us what “true” requires.
Notice, too, that the passage says all eligible voters, not every person living in Athens. Our task isn't to settle who ought to be eligible or whether this would work in a much larger country. We need the missing rule connecting the system described to the label in the conclusion.
What we’re looking for
To make the conclusion follow, require a true democracy to let the eligible voters themselves vote directly on all political decisions. The passage says Athens alone had that arrangement. With that requirement in place, the other systems are ruled out. That would establish the classicist's limited conclusion: if there has ever been a true democracy, it could only have been Athens.
Working the answers
- A
Most systems could fail to be democracies while several of the remaining systems qualified as true democracies. Imagine Athens and two other systems all qualified. It could still be true that most systems did not, but the classicist's “only in ancient Athens” conclusion would be false. A count of most systems cannot supply the missing definition.
- B
Public debate is one feature of the Athenian process. But we aren't told that Athens was the only system with public debate. Even if debate is required, another system could debate issues and then let elected representatives decide them. B doesn't establish why that system couldn't be a true democracy.
- C
Being the only democracy in ancient Greece wouldn't make Athens the only true democracy in world history. What about systems outside Greece or from later periods? This answer also leaves the distinction between a democracy and a true democracy unexplained. Both gaps remain.
- DCorrect
A true democracy must have the eligible voters themselves vote directly on all political decisions. That supplies the missing requirement. Athens alone had the arrangement described, so no other system could meet it.
We don't have to establish that Athens definitely was a true democracy. The conclusion is conditional: if any system has qualified, it was only Athens. D rules the others out without requiring us to prove that Athens met every possible requirement.
- E
How many eligible voters actually showed up isn't the missing connection. Even excellent attendance would not tell us what makes a system a true democracy. And low attendance wouldn't erase the feature the classicist emphasizes: eligible voters themselves, rather than elected representatives, are the decision makers. We need a rule about that arrangement, not a turnout figure.
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