Logical Reasoning

PT117 · S4 · Q18 Philosopher: The rational pursuit of

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Philosopher: The rational pursuit of happiness is quite different from always doing what one most strongly desires to do.

Statements

Rational pursuit ≠ Always doing what you of happiness most strongly desire to do

causal connector (this is because / moreover) Rational must involves long term and desires are usually short term.

contrast (ordinary desire vs. compulsion) ordinary = offer at least momentary happiness desires when goal is attained

compulsive = drive us to pursue goals that, desires if attained, offer no happiness

Evaluate

It looks like it will be hard to guess this one. Most Must Be False questions follow one of two patterns:

1. the correct answer contradicts a conditional There weren't any obvious conditionals here other than must in the second sentence. We could maybe turn the last two statements into conditionals, like, . So we might see a correct answer offer one of these contradictions - This situation involved rational pursuit of happiness, but consideration of long-term consequences didn't happen. - This situation involved an ordinary desire being satisfied, but there was no happiness at all attained. - This situation involved a compulsion, and there was happiness when the goal was attained.

2. The correct answer contradicts a Must Be True inference we can make by combining claims.

It's not super obvious which claims we could combine here to derive something.

Goal

So, let's stay flexible and look for any answer that contradicts the passage. We can ask ourselves,

18.

If all of the philosopher's statements are true, each of the following could be true EXCEPT:

  1. The majority of people do

    Out of Scope: most

    Could we prove that "most people do have compulsions?" No, the paragraph never provided any fact about most people.

    9% picked this

  2. Correct

    Attaining the goal of any

    Why this is right

    Can we prove that "sometimes the attainment of a desire does not result in momentary happiness"? Sure! Desires are sometimes compulsions, and compulsions "offer no happiness even when the goal is reached". So the goal of desires sometimes offers no happiness even when attained.

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

    69% picked this

  3. Most people do not pursue

    Out of Scope: most

    Could we prove that "most people do pursue happiness rationally?" No, the paragraph never provided any fact about most people.

    3% picked this

  4. Most people want more than

    Out of Scope: most

    Could we prove that "most people do not want more than their own personal happiness / most people only desire their own personal happiness"? No, the paragraph never provided any fact about most people.

    5% picked this

  5. All actions have long-term consequences.

    Compatible

    Can we prove that "at least one action does not have a long-term consequence"? Nope. We have no evidence that some actions only have short-term consequences. The closest thing resembling that was saying that our desires are usually focused on the short-term consequences of actions (but that doesn't imply those actions don't have long-term consequences, only that we're ignoring the long-term consequences).

    15% picked this

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