Essayist: Practical intelligence is the ability

Answer choices

1. A

   Out of Scope: help of others3% picked this

   A being cannot acquire a skill without the help

   We want to prove that this hypothetical being will not acquire the skill of discovering means to ends. This answer says a hypothetical being will not acquire a skill without the help of others. Did the argument say whether this hypothetical being would / wouldn't have the help of others, when it comes to acquiring the skill of discovering means to ends? Nope. Since we don't know that this being will be "without the help of others", we can't use this rule to prove that the being will not discover means to ends.

   3%
2. B

   Correct61% picked this

   Skills are acquired only if they

   Why this is right

   We want to prove that this hypothetical being will not acquire the skill of discovering means to ends. This answer says a hypothetical being will not acquire a skill if the skill isn't needed. Did the argument say whether this hypothetical being would need the skill of discovering means to ends? It did not explicitly, but we're allowed to use our common sense here. The idea of "means to an ends" is the idea of "I want X (that's the end). How do I get X? (what's the means of getting it)" We normal people think, "I want a Tesla. How do I go about getting a Tesla" and in trying to figure out a way, we are discovering the means to an end. This hypothetical being says, "I want a Tesla", and a Tesla immediately appears. So she has no need to develop the ability of discovering the means to an end. She's got instant gratification for any end she desires. Since she has no need to discover how to get what she wants (she always and instantly gets what she wants), according to this answer she will never acquire the skill of being able discover how to get what she wants. Someone who is always instantly gratified never needs the ability to discover means to ends. So according to this answer, they will never acquire the ability to discover means to ends. So according to the first sentence, they will never have practical intelligence. Thus, we proved the conclusion.

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

   61%
3. C

   Too Weak20% picked this

   The best way to learn how to acquire something is to be

   Since our hypothetical being would never be deprived of anything, she would definitely not be learning to acquire the skill of discovering means to ends the best way. But that doesn't mean she wouldn't acquire the skill. This answer still leaves open the possibility that the hypothetical being might acquire the ability to discover means to ends.

   20%
4. D

   Unrelated to Goal9% picked this

   A being with practical intelligence would get what it wants entirely through the use of

   We want to prove that this hypothetical being will not acquire the skill of discovering means to ends, so that we can derive the conclusion that this being would not have practical intelligence. This has nothing to with that goal, and it's actually talking about people who do have practical intelligence, so it has nothing to with the conclusion either.

   9%
5. E

   Unrelated to Goal7% picked this

   If a being were always deprived of what it wanted, it could not

   We want to prove that a hypothetical being who is never deprived will not acquire the skill of discovering means to ends, so that we can derive the conclusion that this being would not have practical intelligence. This has nothing to with that goal, and it's actually talking about people who are always deprived, so it has nothing to with the conclusion either.

   7%