Self-study
Essayist: Support It is much less difficult to live an enjoyable life if one is able to make lifestyle choices that accord with one's personal beliefs and then see those choices accepted by others. ██ ██ ████████ ███ ██████ ██ ████ ████ ████ ██ ██████████ ██ ████████ ███████ ███ ██████████ ███ █████ ████ ██ █████ ████████ ████████ █████ ██ ███ ██████ ██ ██████ ███ ███████ ██ ██████ ███ ██████ ████ ████ ██ ██ ███ ████ ██████████
Summary
The essayist concludes that everyone should have the freedom to choose their friends. Why? Because choosing your friends can help you find acceptance, and having a lifestyle that’s accepted and that matches your beliefs makes it easier to live an enjoyable life.
Notable Assumptions
The essayist concludes that no one should be denied the freedom to choose their friends, but her premises don’t establish when someone should or should not be denied certain freedoms. She assumes that, because choosing your friends can help you find acceptance and make it easier to live an enjoyable life, no one should be denied this freedom.
To help justify her conclusion, we need a rule or principle that satisfies this assumption by confirming that no one should be denied any freedom that might make it easier for them to live an enjoyable life.
23.
Which one of the following ███████████ ██ ██████ ████ █████ ██ ███████ ███ ██████████ █████████
a
No one should ██ ██████ ███ ███████ ██ ████ █████████ ███████ ████ ██████ ████ ███ ██ ███ ████████ ████████
Just because everyone should have the freedom to make certain lifestyle choices does not help justify the conclusion that everyone should have the freedom to choose their friends. People could have the freedom to make lifestyle choices but not the freedom to choose their friends.
b
One should associate ████ ██ █████ ████ ██████ ███ █████ ████ ██ █████ ████████ ████████
People can find acceptance by choosing friends who share their beliefs. But the essayist never argues that people should associate with people who share their beliefs, or even that they should live an enjoyable life. She just argues that people should be able to choose their friends.
c
If having a █████ ███████ █████ ████ ██ ████ █████████ ███ ███████ ██ ████ ██ █████████ █████ ████ ██ ███ ██████ ██ ██████ ████ ████████
Or, if a certain freedom makes it easier to enjoy life, no one should be denied that freedom. Since the freedom to choose your friends can help you find acceptance, and acceptance makes it easier to enjoy life, no one should be denied the freedom to choose their friends.
d
No one whose █████████ ██ ████ ████████ ██ █████ ██ █████ ██ ███████ ███ ██████████ ███ █████ ████ ██ ███ ████ ████████ ███████ ██████ ██ ████████████ █████████ ████ ██████ ████ ███████ ███ ███████████
The essayist doesn’t conclude that people shouldn’t be deliberately prevented from having certain friends; she concludes that people should have the freedom to choose their friends. Also, she’s talking about all people, not just the people described in (D).
e
One may choose ███ ███████ ███ ██████ ████ ████ ███ ████ ██████████ ██ █████ ██ █████ ████ ██ ██████ ██ ████ ██ █████████ █████
This adds a qualifier to the conclusion. It argues that if choosing your friends could make it easier for you to enjoy life, then you should be able to choose your friends. But the author argues that everyone should have the freedom to choose their friends.