#17 - The stable functioning of a society depends upon the

[nschlesi]

Q: The claim that a society is stable only if its laws tend to increase the happiness of its citizens plays which one of the following roles in the argument?
A: It helps to support the conclusion of the argument

I am not quite sure what the conclusion of the argument is. At first I thought that the statement in the question was the conclusion. However, I'm thinking now that the conclusion may be the statement that, "the stable functioning of society depends on the relatively long-term stability of the goals of its citizens."
Thoughts?

[Malila Robinson]

Hi nschlesi,
Your revised thought (the first sentence in the stimulus) is the main conclusion in the argument. "The stable functioning of a society depends upon the relatively long-term stability of the goals of its citizens." The other sentences in the stimulus lend support to that sentence.
Hope that helps!
-Malila

[mcassidy1]

How can we be sure the first sentence is the conclusion? I think I am having a hard time apply the because test. It should be obvious that a society is stable only if its law tend to increase the happiness of the citizens because the stable functioning of a society depends upon the relatively long term stability of the goals of it citizens. That makes sense to me.

[James Finch]

Hi M. Cassidy,

The phrase "this is clear from" is synonymous with "because" and thus indicates a premise. So that immediately tells us that the other sentence is likely the conclusion. But to be sure in this case, we can diagram out the conditional relationships given in the two sentences:

Sentence 1: Stable Functioning Society Long-term Stability of Goals

Sentence 2: Legislature Craft Laws Augmenting Happiness Long-term Stability of Goals,

and

Stable Functioning Society Legislature Craft Laws Augmenting Happiness

Put it all together and you get:

Stable Functioning Society Legislature Craft Laws Augmenting Happiness Long-term Stability of Goals

So the first sentence acts as an A C inference, which means it must be a conclusion.

Hope this clears things up!

[Wesleygerschick]

Hi, could someone please explain the overall question and why each of the answers is wrong. That is what I find the most helpful, but when answering this question, I answered E instead of B if that helps the explanation.

[Jeff Wren]

Hi Wesley,

This is a Method of Reasoning - Argument Part question. These questions cite a part of the argument in the stimulus and ask what role that part plays in the argument.

Before looking at the answers, it is important to pre-phrase the answer. In the argument given in the stimulus, the first sentence is the conclusion and everything that follows that first sentence are premises supporting that conclusion. As a reminder, a premise is a statement that supports the conclusion that is not supported by another statement. In other words, it's a "fact" that is taken as true as a starting point in an argument.

Here, the claim cited in the question is a premise, so your prephrase should literally be "a premise" or a description of a premise. Answer B is basically a description of a premise and is therefore the correct answer.

Answer A is wrong because the part cited is not the conclusion, it's a premise.

Answer C is wrong because the part cited is not a claim that must be refuted to establish the conclusion; it's a claim that supports the conclusion (i.e. a premise). Answer C would be describing an opposing viewpoint, not a premise.

Answer D is wrong because the part cited is not a consequence of the argument, it's a premise used to support the argument. Answer D would be describing a statement or inference that would follow from the argument rather than a part of the argument itself.

Answer E is wrong because the part cited is not used to illustrate a general principle that the argument assumes (i.e. presupposes). In fact, the part cited is a principle (i.e. a broad rule) itself rather than an example illustrating another principle.