Self-study
Support Science fiction creates an appetite for interstellar space exploration among certain people. ██████████████ ████ ████████ ██████ ██ █████████ ████ ███ ██████████ ████████ ████ ████ ████████ █████ ████ ███████ ████████████ ███ ███████ ████ ███████████ ██ █████ ███ ██████ ██ ███████ ███████ ███ ████ ██ ██████ ██ ████████████ ███████████████ ████ ███ ███ ███ █████ ████████ ███
Summary
The author concludes that science fiction has created an unproductive dissatisfaction with the way the world actually is.
What makes the author think this? Because of the following:
Science fiction creates, for some people, the appetite for space exploration.
That appetite cannot be satisfied in the near future.
If there are gaps between expectations and reality, people become dissatisfied.
Notable Assumptions
The author assumes that science fiction creates gaps between expectations and reality. In particular, the author assumes that the appetite created by science fiction concerning space exploration is something that some people EXPECT to be satisfied. This is why the author thinks the fact that appetite cannot be satisfied creates a gap between expectations and reality. (But this overlooks the possibility that people may have an appetite for space exploration, but actually do not expect that appetite to be satisfied. People might be very realistic about whether they will ever get to explore space.)
11.
Which one of the following ██ ██ ██████████ ███ ████████ █████████
a
The fact that ███ ████████ ███ ████████████ █████ ███████████ ██████ ██ █████████ ████ ███ ██████████ ████████ ████ ████ ███████ ███ ███████ █ ███ ███████ ███████ ███ ████ ████████ █████████████
Necessary, because if it were not true — if the fact the appetite for space exploration cannot be satisfied in the near future has NOT created a gap between reality and anyone’s expectations — then we have no reason to think science fiction creates dissatisfaction. Without (A), the author’s argument does not establish that there’s a gap between expectations and reality.
b
If science fiction ███ ███████ ██ ████████████ ███████████████ ████ ███ ███ ███ █████ ████████ ███ ██ ███ ████ ██ ████ ██ ████████ ██ ████████ ███ ████████████ █████ ███████████ █████ ███████ ███████
Not necessary, because the argument isn’t weakened if science fiction has created unproductive dissatisfaction in other ways unrelated to the appetite for space exploration. The author assumes that ONE way science fiction has created an unproductive dissatisfaction is through creating the appetite for space exploration; but the author doesn’t have to think it’s the only way.
c
Few if any ██ ███ █████████ ████ ███████ ███████ ███ ███████ ██ ██████ █████ ██ █████████ ████ ███ ██████████ ████████ ████ ████ ████████
Not necessary, because the argument is based on a particular appetite created by science fiction — the appetite for space exploration. Whether other appetites can or cannot be satisfied doesn’t change the fact that the appetite for space exploration cannot be satisfied in the near future.
d
Most people unrealistically ██████ ████ ██████████ ████ ████████ ████ ████ ███████ █████ ███████ ███ ████████ ███ ████████████ █████ ████████████
Not necessary, because the argument is based on the fact that science fiction has created an unsatisfied appetite for space exploration “among certain people.” The author doesn’t have to believe these “certain people” constitute over half of people (”most”) in the world.
e
If the appetites ███████ ███████ ███ ███████ ██ ██████ █████ ███ ██ █████████ ████ ████████████ ████ ████████ ████ ████ ████████ ████ ███████ ███████ █████ ███ ██████ ██ ████████████ ███████████████ ████ ███ ███ ███ █████ ███
Not necessary, because the author argues from the fact that certain appetites are NOT satisfied to the conclusion that science fiction has created unproductive dissatisfaction. This doesn’t require any assumption about what would be true if appetites CAN be satisfied. Nor does this require any assumption about what would be sufficient to prove that science fiction could NOT create an unproductive satisfaction. (If the author’s trying to prove A → B, that doesn’t require the assumption that Not A → Not B.)