Logical Reasoning

PT111 · S1 · Q14 Novelists cannot become great as

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Novelists cannot become great as long as they remain in academia.

Conclusion

Novelists cannot become great as long as they remain in academia.

Evidence

Schools hone observation and analysis (useful to novelists). But an intuitive grasp of everyday emotions can only be obtained through immersion in everyday life, which being an academic precludes.

Evaluate

The argument moves from to "academics can't become great novelists." That step only works if the intuitive grasp of everyday emotions is something required for greatness. If it were merely nice to have, the argument would not establish that academics are barred from greatness.

Goal

The right answer should fill the gap by establishing that an intuitive grasp of everyday emotions is necessary for greatness. Negation test: if it's not necessary, the argument falls apart.

14.

Which one of the following is an assumption on which the argument depends?

  1. Novelists require some impartiality to

    Out of Scope

    This answer introduces "impartiality" as a requirement for the intuitive grasp. The argument doesn't depend on impartiality at all — the only quality the argument cares about for getting the intuitive grasp is immersion in everyday life. Negation test: even if impartiality plays no role in obtaining the intuitive grasp, the argument's claims are intact (academics still lack the immersion they need). Not necessary.

    2% picked this

  2. No great novelist lacks powers

    Bad Assumption

    This says every great novelist has powers of observation and analysis. The argument doesn't need that. The argument is about what academics lack (immersion), not about what they have. Negation test: even if some great novelists lack observation and analysis powers, the argument's point — that academics can't reach greatness because they lack the intuitive grasp — still goes through. Not necessary.

    1% picked this

  3. Participation in life, interspersed with

    Too Strong

    This says participation plus impartial observation makes novelists great — a claim about what is sufficient for greatness. The argument is about what is necessary, not what is sufficient. Negation test: even if participation interspersed with observation does not, by itself, make novelists great, academics could still be barred from greatness because they lack the necessary intuitive grasp. The argument's structure doesn't depend on this. Not necessary.

    2% picked this

  4. Correct

    Novelists cannot be great without

    Why this is right

    This is the bridge the argument needs. The stimulus shows academics can't get the intuitive grasp (because that requires immersion that academia precludes). To leap from that to "academics can't be great," the argument needs greatness to require the intuitive grasp. Negation test: suppose great novelists do not require an intuitive grasp of everyday emotions. Then the fact that academics lack it doesn't bar them from greatness — and the conclusion collapses. The argument depends on (D).

    Skill tested: Necessary Assumption · how this choice captures the argument's function is the move to repeat next time.

    83% picked this

  5. Knowledge of the emotions of

    Bad Assumption

    The stimulus already commits to the view that the intuitive grasp can only come from immersion in everyday life — i.e., not from observing-and-analyzing alone. So this is a restatement of a stimulus claim, not a needed assumption. The argument's logic uses that claim as a premise; it doesn't depend on a separate, additional claim of the same content. Negation test gets odd here because the stimulus already asserts essentially this; the gap the argument actually needs to fill is whether the intuitive grasp is required for greatness (which is (D)).

    12% picked this

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