Self-study
Conclusion The stable functioning of a society depends upon the relatively long-term stability of the goals of its citizens. ████ ██ █████ ████ ███ ████ ████ ██████ ███ ████████ ██ ███████████ ████ █ ███████████ ███ ████████ ███ ██ ████████████ ██ ████ ██ ██████████ ███ █ ███████████ ██ █████ ████ ████ ████ ███████ ███ ████████████ ██ ███ ██████████ ███ ██ ██████ ██ ███████ ████ █ ███████ ██ ██████ ████ ██ ███ ████ ████ ██ ████████ ███ █████████ ██ ███ █████████
Summarize Argument
The author claims that for a society to be stable, its citizens must have stable goals. This is a conditional claim, which is supported by chaining together two conditional premises. One premise is that a stable society necessitates laws that increase the happiness of its citizens. The other is that creating laws which increase citizens’ happiness requires most people to have “a predictable and enduring set of aspirations”, i.e. stable goals.
P1. stable society → laws increase happiness
P2. laws increase happiness → stable goals
Therefore, stable society → stable goals
Identify Argument Part
The claim that “a society is stable only if its laws tend to increase the happiness of its citizens” is one of the premises used to establish the conclusion.
17.
The claim that a society ██ ██████ ████ ██ ███ ████ ████ ██ ████████ ███ █████████ ██ ███ ████████ █████ █████ ███ ██ ███ █████████ █████ ██ ███ █████████
a
It is the ██████████ ██ ███ █████████
The claim about stability and laws that increase happiness is a premise used to reach the conclusion. It’s not supported by anything else, so can’t be a conclusion.
b
It helps to ███████ ███ ██████████ ██ ███ █████████
This correctly identifies that the claim about stability and laws that increase happiness is one of the author’s premises. It supports the conclusion, and has no other role in the argument.
c
It is a █████ ████ ████ ██ ███████ ██ ███ ██████████ ██ ██ ██ ████████████
The argument doesn’t contain any claims that need to be refuted. The author takes both premises for granted, and they validly yield the conclusion. It’s that simple, no refutation involved.
d
It is a ███████████ ██ ███ █████████
The claim about stability and laws that increase happiness that increase happiness can’t be a consequence of anything because nothing else leads to it. It’s just stated without any support.
e
It is used ██ ██████████ ███ ███████ █████████ ████ ███ ████████ ████████████
The claim about stability and laws that increase happiness doesn’t illustrate anything. It combines with another premise to lead to the conclusion, but not by providing an example.