PrepTest 158, Section 3, Question 16
If a belief is based on information from(32 more words not shown)
If all the statements above(11 more words not shown)
- ABeliefs for which(9 more words not shown)
- BBeliefs based on(7 more words not shown)
- CAll reasonable beliefs(16 more words not shown)
- DIf a belief(12 more words not shown)
- EAmong reasonable beliefs(15 more words not shown)
Reading the argument
Follow the same beliefs through both statements. Some beliefs come from a reliable source but are neither self-evident nor supported by observable evidence. The first rule tells us that beliefs from a reliable source are reasonable to maintain. So those particular beliefs are reasonable, even though they lack both of the other features.
That's the connection. We aren't combining one group without self-evidence and a different group without observable evidence. The passage gives us beliefs that lack both, and then the reliable-source rule tells us something more about those same beliefs.
What we’re looking for
For the must-be-true question, I'd predict that some reasonable beliefs are neither self-evident nor grounded in observable evidence. Keep the rule's direction straight, too: a reliable source gives us one way for a belief to be reasonable. The passage doesn't say it is the only way.
Working the answers
- A
This is contradicted by the beliefs we just followed. They lack observable evidence but come from a reliable source, which makes them reasonable under the first rule. Lack of observable evidence therefore doesn't establish that a belief is unreasonable.
- B
The second statement explicitly gives us some beliefs from a reliable source that are not self-evident. Those are direct counterexamples to B's claim that beliefs from reliable sources are self-evident. We don't need any outside example to reject it.
- C
We know that some reasonable beliefs without observable evidence come from reliable sources. We don't know that all such beliefs do. There could be another basis for maintaining a reasonable belief that also lacks observable evidence. C turns the source we were given into a requirement for the entire group.
- D
The passage gives some beliefs that lack both observable evidence and self-evidence. That doesn't mean the two absences must always go together. A different belief might be self-evident without being grounded in observable evidence. D imposes a relationship on all beliefs that the passage establishes only for some particular ones.
- ECorrect
Take the beliefs described in the second statement. They aren't self-evident, they aren't grounded in observable evidence, and they come from a reliable source. That last fact makes them reasonable under the first statement.
They therefore belong to the group of reasonable, non-self-evident beliefs, and they supply the members of that group that lack observable evidence. E says exactly what these cases establish.
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