Anyone believing that no individual

Answer choices

1. A

   Unrelated to Goal9% picked this

   Anyone who believes that individuals can have an effect on society's future should act to change

   This sounds nothing like "feeling helpless is bad; it makes it harder to improve society". The conversation we were having in the argument was about people who would potentially believe individuals can't have an effect on the future, so we can tell from how this answer starts (people who believe we can effect the future) that it's dealing with an Out of Scope concept.

   9%
2. B

   Unrelated to Goal11% picked this

   No one who rejects the belief that society's future will be determined by vast historical forces should believe that individuals cannot

   This sounds nothing like "feeling helpless is bad; it makes it harder to improve society". This answer choice is trying to sound appealing because it's linking together language used in the argument, but it's linking together synonyms that were already equivalent. "Believing society's future will be determined entirely by vast forces we are powerless to change" is the same thing as "believing that no individual can have an effect on society's future".

   11%
3. C

   Bad Outcome Match17% picked this

   Anyone who feels too helpless to act to change society for the better should reject the belief that its future will be determined by

   We're looking for something like "If you feel too helpless to act to change society, then you will make it harder for society to improve." The second half of this answer saying "then you should reject a belief". In our analogous example, we wanted an answer like, "If Lisa's Dad approves of you, then Lisa won't like you". This answer choice would be the equivalent of, "If Lisa's Dad approves of you, then you shouldn't compliment Obama." These ideas don't even make sense to process, because they are saying "if the 1st thing is true, you shouldn't do the 2nd thing", but we were told the 1st thing is a result of the 2nd thing. By the time the 1st thing appears on the scene (feeling hopeless / Dad approving), the 2nd thing has already occurred (believed future out of our control / complimented Obama).

   17%
4. D

   Correct60% picked this

   No one who wants to improve society should accept any belief that makes him or her feel too helpless to act to

   Why this is right

   This sounds like "feeling helpless is bad; it makes it harder to improve society". This is saying, "If you want to improve society, reject any beliefs that would make you feel too helpless to act to change." The premise said, "believing the future is beyond our control is a belief that makes you feel too helpless to act to change". So that lets us basically derive the conclusion, "If you want to improve society, reject the belief that future is beyond our control"

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

   60%
5. E

   Unrelated to Goal2% picked this

   Each individual should act to improve society if individuals in general feel powerless in the face

   This sounds nothing like "feeling helpless is bad; it makes it harder to improve society". We're trying to justify that we should reject a belief that "we can't affect the future". Why? Because believing that would make us feel too helpless to act to change. Why is that bad? The correct answer needs to helps us with this part. But this answer isn't helping give us any reason why it would be bad for society if we feel too helpless to act to change.

   2%