Self-study
Essayist: Support The historical figures that we find most engaging are very rarely those who are morally most virtuous. ████ ████ ████████ █████████████ ████ ██ █████ ███████ ███ ███████████ █████ █████ ██████ ██ ███ █████ ███ ███████████████ ████ ██ ██████ █████ █████ ███ ██████ █████ █████ ██ █████ ████ ████ ██ ████ ███ █████ █████ ███████████████ ██ ██████ █████
Summary
The author argues that moral virtue isn’t one of the characteristics we admire most. This is based on two key premises:
1) The figures we find most engaging are rarely the most virtuous
2) We most admire those whose lives we want to live
Notable Assumptions
The first premise explains who we find engaging, and the second premise explains who we most admire. However, the author makes the assumption that these two premises are inherently linked. What if there is a figure who we find engaging, but whose life we wouldn’t want to live and who we don’t admire?
There needs to be a bridge establishing that the figures we find engaging are also those whose lives we want to live, or more directly, that they are those who we admire.
22.
Which one of the following ██ ██ ██████████ ████████ ██ ███ ██████████ █████████
a
The historical figures ████ ██ ████ ████ ████████ ███ █████ █████ █████ ██ █████ ████ ████ ██ █████
If the figures we find most engaging don’t have the lives we’d most like to live, then they wouldn’t have the characteristics we admire most. In this scenario, it wouldn’t make sense to say we don’t admire a characteristic just because engaging people rarely have it.
b
Bravery and creativity ███ ███████████████ ████ ████ ██ ████ █████████ ██ ██ ███████ █████████
The argument needs something that bridges people whose lives we’d want to live and people we admire with people who we find engaging. This answer choice just tells us more about who we find engaging — it doesn’t connect the two parts.
c
Historical figures are ████ ██████ ███████ █████████
(C) only provides information about the frequency of moral virtue — it doesn’t provide any information that would help show whether moral virtue is something that is admired.
d
People develop their ██████████ ██ ████ █████ ██ ██████████ █████████ █████ ██ ████ ████ ████ █████ ██████████ ████████
Knowing how people decide what makes someone admirable doesn’t help bridge the premises. It doesn’t say anything about being engaging, which could help mark it as an incorrect choice. We’re also talking about admirable characteristics, not admirable people.
e
Moral virtue is ███ ██████████████ ██ ██████████ ███████ ████ ██ ████ █████ █████████
This mostly just re-emphasizes the first premise, rather than bridging the two premises. It just provides more evidence that moral virtue isn’t engaging — but doesn’t say anything about whether we admire moral virtue.