PT155 S1 Q22 ExplanationEssayist: The historical figures that we find

Answer choices, explained

1. A

   Correct74% picked this

   The historical figures that we find most engaging are those whose lives we would most

   Why this is right

   This is the missing link we were predicting. We may have gotten worried that these were the right ideas but in reversed order. But if you're saying "the thing that's #1 in category A is the thing that's #1 in category B", it's a reversible bi-conditional relationship. There's only one #1 in each category. If the state with the most guns per capita is also the state with the most prisons per capita, then you can equivalently say that the state with the most prisons per capita is the state with the most guns per capita.

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

   74%
2. B

   Unsupported Causal Relationship9% picked this

   Bravery and creativity are characteristics that make it more difficult to

   The author mentions in consecutive sentences that engaging historical figures were not super virtuous but were brave and creative. That doesn't give us license to think she's claiming that "being brave and creative causes them to be less virtuous".

   9%
3. C

   Too Strong: all historical figures4% picked this

   Historical figures are very rarely morally

   We were only told that the historical figures we find most engaging are very rarely morally virtuous. The historical figures we find utterly boring might be way more common and way more morally virtuous. We should be very uneasy picking an answer on Necessary Assumption (or Inference) that feels like it's just referring back to one claim. Our correct answer here linked language from two separate claims.

   4%
4. D

   Out of Scope: develop their conception5% picked this

   People develop their conception of what makes an individual admirable based on what they know

   The author thinks we most admire the traits of the people whose lives we'd love to steal. And she assumes that the lives we'd love to steal are those of historical figures we find engaging. But those two facts don't reveal anything about how we developed our conception of makes an individual admirable. "What we admire most" is a different topic from "what makes an individual admirable". I find military service people highly admirable. I base my conception of what makes them admirable on presumed values they have (bravery / service to others) and ethical principles I have (life live to the fullest / make the world a better place), not what I know about historical figures.

   5%
5. E

   Too Strong: least engaging8% picked this

   Moral virtue is the characteristic of historical figures that we find

   The author is only arguing that moral virtue is not among the traits we find most admirable. She doesn't need to assume we find it least engaging. The fact that the historical figures we find most engaging weren't the most virtuous doesn't mean we are bored by morally virtuous people or that we found these figures engaging because they weren't morally virtuous.

   8%