PT112.S4.Q3

PrepTest 112 - Section 4 - Question 3

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Legal theorist: Conclusion It is unreasonable to incarcerate anyone for any other reason than that he or she is a serious threat to the property or lives of other people. ███ ████████ ██ █ ███ ████ ███ ███████ ██████████████ ███ ███████████ ████████ ██████ ████ █████████ ██ ███ ███ ██ ██ ███ ███████ ██ █████ ████████ ██ ████ ███ ████ ██████ ██ ███ ███████████ █████████ ████ █████████ ██████ ███████ █████████████ █ ███████████ ███ ████ ████ ██████ ██ ███ ████ ██ ███ ██████████ █████ ██ ███████ ██████████████ ███ ████ ██████ ████████ ████ ███ ███████ ██ ██ ██████ ███ ███ ███████ ██ ██ █████ ███ ████████ ██ ████████ ███ █████████████ █████████████ ███████ ██ █████ ██ ██████████ ██ ███ ██████

Argument Summary: Eliminating Options

The legal theorist's argument proceeds by eliminating options. First, we're given a general statement: it is unreasonable to incarcerate anyone for any other reason than that they pose a threat to other people's lives or property. In other words, all other reasons to incarcerate someone are unreasonable, and the author eliminates these from the outset.

We're then given an explanation for why one specific reason — breaking a law — doesn't justify incarcerating someone. Breaking a law happens either because a person is ignorant of the law or of their actions' effects, or because they made a free choice — but both these options, according to the theorist, don't justify incarcerating someone. So breaking the law can never be a sufficient justification for incarcerating someone.

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3.

The claim in the first ████████ ██ ███ ███████ █████ █████ ███ ██ ███ █████████ █████ ██ ███ █████████

a

It is offered ██ █ ███████ ████ █████ ██ ████ ████ ██ ███████ ███ █████ ███ ███████ ██ ███ ██████

Incorrect. As we discussed, the claim in the first sentence functions as the main point, not as a premise for a later claim.

1%
b

It is offered ██ ██████████ ███████████ █████████ ██ ██████████ ███ █████████

Incorrect. The first sentence isn't just background information. It's the point the rest of the argument is there to support.
5%
c

It is offered ██ ███ ████ ██████████ ████ ███ ████████ ██ ████████ ██ ██████████

Correct. This fits our analysis of the argument.
93%
d

It is offered ██ ████████ ███ ███ ██████ █████ ████ ██████████ ██ ████ ███ ████████ ██ ████ █████████ ████ ███████████ ███ ████ ███████ █████

Incorrect. The argument never makes the claim mentioned in (D).
0%
e

It is offered ██ ████████ ███ ███ ██████ █████ ████ ███████████ ████████ ████ ██████ █████████ ██ ███ ████ ██ █████████ ██ ███ ███████ ██ █████ ████████ ██ ████ ███████

Incorrect. The claim in the first sentence is the main conclusion. It isn't evidence for any later claim, let alone the specific one mentioned in (E).
1%

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