Self-study
There are two supposedly conflicting hypotheses as to what makes for great national leaders: one is that such leaders successfully shape public opinion, and the other is that they are adept at reacting to it. ████████ ████████ █████ ██████████ ██ ████████ █████████ ██ █████████ █ ████████ ███ ███████ ███ ████ ███ ███████ ███████ █████ ████████ ██████ ██ █████ █████████ ███████████ ████ ████ ██████ ████ ██ ███████ ███ ████████ ██ ██████ ████████
Summary
The author concludes that great leaders can both shape and react to public opinion, contrary to what some people believe. Why? Because all leaders that have successfully passed programs in the legislature do both.
Notable Assumptions
The author’s conclusion is about great leaders. But his support is about leaders who have successfully passed programs in the legislature. It’s not obvious that those are identical. Could some leaders be considered great for accomplishments that didn’t involve legislation?
Consequently, the author must assume that there’s at least some connection between passing legislative programs and being a great leader.
15.
Which one of the following ██ ██ ██████████ ██ █████ ███ ████████ ████████
a
Having success getting ████████ ██████ ██ ███ ███████████ ██ ██████████ ██ █████ █ █████ ████████ ███████
The author must assume that this is the case. If it were negated, passing programs would not be indicative of great leadership. If so, the qualities of leaders who pass legislative programs would not be relevant to a theory about great leaders.
b
It is impossible ██ ████████████ █████ ██████ ███████ ███████ ██ ████ ███ ████████ ██ ███
This assumption goes beyond what is necessary for the argument. The author argues that some leaders can both shape and react to public opinion, not that all leaders who do one must do the other.
c
To lead, one ████ ██████ ████████████ █████ ██████ ███████ ██ ██ █████ ██ ████████ ██ ███ ██ █████
The author’s conclusion is about great leaders, specifically; he doesn’t have to make any assumptions about leaders in general.
d
Having a good ███████ ████ ███ ███████ ██ ███ ███████████ ██████ █ ██████ ██ █████ ██████ ████████
Specifying an exact mechanism isn’t necessary for the author’s argument. Suppose that leaders had to shape public opinion or pass legislation without having a good rapport with the legislature. It wouldn’t contradict any part of the author’s argument.
e
To be a █████ ██████ ███ ████ ███ ██ ██████ ██ ██████ ████████
On the contrary, the author believes that great leaders might be great precisely because they can react to public opinion.