Essayist: Common sense, which is

Answer choices

1. A

   Too Strong: never be absorbed6% picked this

   At least some new theories that have not yet been found to be more useful than any theory currently part of common sense will

   We don't have any sort of rule in this paragraph that gives us a way to prove that something "will not be absorbed". We only have a rule that says, "If alt. theory proves more useful, will be absorbed (eventually)"

   6%
2. B

   Too Strong: generally10% picked this

   Of the useful theories within the body of common sense, the older ones are generally less useful

   Can we really say most of the older theories in common sense are less useful than most of the newer ones? Nothing in the paragraph let's us quantify a comparison in usefulness. The temptation in this answer is that a new theory in common sense occurs because that new theory is more useful than the one it's replacing. But let's say that there are 100 theories in common sense. There might be like 65 ironclad theories that are super useful. It's unlikely an alternate theory that's even more useful will ever be developed. Meanwhile, there are 35 decent theories that are somewhat useful. But over time, we keep finding ways to improve on them. They get swapped out for somewhat more useful alternatives. But that doesn't mean that the average usefulness of those 35 (the newer ones) will be higher than the usefulness of the 65 older theories, that are so useful, they've never been replaced!

   10%
3. C

   Unsupported Causal Relationship6% picked this

   The frequency with which new theories are generated prevents their rapid absorption into the body

   The passage told us that superior theories are absorbed into common sense slowly. This answer seems to be positing some causal backstory to explain why they're absorbed slowly (it's saying "there are just so many new theories that common sense doesn't want to overreact, so it takes it slow"?) We are just told that common sense absorbs new theories slowly. The passage doesn't explain why it absorbs new theories slowly, so we can't prove this causal claim about why it does so.

   6%
4. D

   Too Strong: each theory9% picked this

   Each theory within the body of common sense is eventually replaced with a new theory

   Nothing in the paragraph guarantees that every theory in common sense will eventually be replaced. The only trigger we know that guarantees that a theory will be replaced is when an alternate theory is found that proves more useful. Do we know that, for every theory in common sense, there will eventually be an alternate theory that is found to be more useful? No, we weren't told that, which is why this answer is too strong.

   9%
5. E

   Correct70% picked this

   At least some theories that have been tested over time and found useful are less useful than some other theories that have not been

   Why this is right

   As we suspected, this answer deals with the tension created by the ending Pivot idea. Since common sense always contains some obsolete theories, that means that there are always some alternate theories out there that are superior to some of the theories in common sense. "Superior" means that there are always some theories in the world that are more useful than some theories still embodied in common sense. We know that all theories embodied in common sense have been tested over time and found useful. So we add up claims to derive this answer: 1. CS always contains some obsolete theories (some theories that are less useful than some alternate theory out there in the world) + 2. all the theories in CS have been proven useful ? Some theories in CS are theories that have proven useful, but are nevertheless less useful than alternate theories that haven't yet been absorbed (since CS absorbs new theories slowly). We anticipated that the correct answer might try to forge some overlap between some pairing of the three things we knew about "common sense", and this answer is combining the 2nd and 3rd: - always progressing - a collection of theories that have been tested over time and found useful - always contains some obsolete theories It's saying that "some of the theories in common sense have been tested over time and found useful but are also obsolete".

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

   70%