#18 - Philosopher: The rational pursuit of happiness is

[Administrator]

Complete Question Explanation

Cannot Be True. The correct answer choice is (B)

In this stimulus, the philosopher concludes that the rational pursuit of happiness does not amount to
simply following one’s strongest desires. This conclusion is based on the following two premises:

• Premise: The rational pursuit of happiness must include consideration of long-term
  consequences.
  
  Premise: Desires are usually focused on the short-term, and are sometimes compulsions, whose
  achievement offers no happiness.

We are asked to assume that the philosopher’s statements are true, and to determine which answer choice
cannot be true based on these statements.

Answer choice (A): We cannot infer anything about whether the majority of people experience
compulsions. If something is uncertain, we cannot rule it out as a possibility, so this choice is incorrect.

Answer choice (B): This is the correct answer choice. The philosopher specifically states that desires
are sometimes compulsions, but attaining the goal of compulsions never leads to any happiness. That
means that attaining the goals of some desires (namely, the compulsions) does not lead to any happiness.
This disproves the claim that attaining the goal of any desire leads to momentary happiness.

Answer choice (C): The stimulus only discusses the rational pursuit of happiness, not the portion of
people who engage in it. Thus we have no insight into whether or not this represents a majority, so this
response could be true.

Answer choice (D): There is no way to glean from the stimulus whether people want more than personal
happiness, so this response could be true.

Answer choice (E): The philosopher’s argument is entirely consistent with all actions’ having some longterm
consequences, so this response could be true.

[Jkjones3789]

Hello, So I identified this as a Cannot be True question. I tried to draw out conditional statements and choose the answer where the suff occurs and the necessary doesn't or something in direct opposition with the stimulus but couldn't find it. Could you kindly explain this question to me and why B is the right answer. I ended up going with E. Thank you

[Steve Stein]

Hi JK,

That's a good question. In that one, we are asked to assume the truth of the philosopher's statements

[amna.ali467]

Hi,

I struggled between answer choice B and E for this question. I ended up choosing E and am not exactly sure why it is wrong and why B is the correct answer.


Thanks for the help.

[Nikki Siclunov]

Hi amna.ali467,

Thanks for your question. It would be tremendously helpful if you can provide a bit more information as to how you approached this problem. Did you break the argument down? What is the conclusion (if any), and how well is it supported by the premises? Did you prephrase an answer to the question? What specifically made (B) and (E) equally attractive?

The more insight you can give us into your line of reasoning, the better we can help you out.

Thanks!

[amna.ali467]

I looked at this question again... and can answer choice E be eliminated because it discusses "actions" which was never addressed in the question, which means it could be true?

[Nikki Siclunov]

Hi amna.ali467,

Answer choice (E) is incorrect, because it cannot be disproven. It states that "all actions have long-term consequences," which is entirely possible given the information contained in the stimulus. Just because desires are usually focused on the short-term doesn't mean that attaining their goal won't have long-term consequences.

By contrast, answer choice (B) CANNOT be true: we know that some desires are compulsions, and that compulsions offer no happiness even when reached. Thus, attaining the goal of some desires does NOT result in any happiness (momentary or not).

Does that clarify things?

Thanks!

[amna.ali467]

Thanks Nikki!

[AAron24!]

Could B be correct because the stimulus says that ordinary desires gives momentarily happiness while the answer choice says the goal of any desire?

[Adam Tyson]

B is correct, AAron24!, because "any" is too strong on these facts. Translate that word to "every" or "all" and you'll see why. It cannot be true that attaining the goal of every desire leads to momentary happiness, because the stimulus proves that sometimes attaining the goal of a desire (one that is a compulsion) leads to no happiness, not even momentary happiness. B is impossible, and therefore the correct answer, because it says something that conflicts with the facts in the stimulus.