Self-study
Scientist: Genetic engineering has aided new developments in many different fields. ███ ███████ █████ ██████████ ███████ ███ ████████████ ██ ███ ███████ █████ ██ ██████████ ████ ███ ████ ██ ██ ██████████ ████ ███ ███████ ████ ██ ███████ ██ ████ ████ ████ ██ ████████████ ███ ████ █████ ██ ███ ██████████ █████████ █████ ████ ██████ ██ ███ ██████ ██ █████████ ████████ ███ ███████ ███████ █████ █████████ ████████ ██ ███████ ███████████ ██ █ █████ █████ ███████ ███████████ ██ ███ ██████████
Summary
The author concludes that genetic engineering is not unethical. His reasoning is that genetic engineering is similar to selective breeding, which has been practiced for thousands of years.
Notable Assumptions
The author defends the ethics of genetic engineering by equating it to selective breeding, which is widespread. But a practice can be both widespread and unethical. If selective breeding is itself unethical, it doesn’t offer good reason to consider genetic engineering ethical.
Consequently, the author must assume that selective breeding is ethical.
20.
Which one of the following ██ ██ ██████████ ██ █████ ███ ███████████ ████████ ████████
a
The manipulation of ███ ███████ ████ ██ █████████ ██ █████ ██████████
This goes far beyond what the author needs to assume for his argument. He’s arguing that some forms of genetic manipulation are ethical. He’s not saying that every possible use of genetic manipulation is ethical.
b
Anything that is ████████████ ██ ██████ ██ ███ █████████ ██ ██████████ ████ ████████
The author’s conclusion concerns genetic engineering and selective breeding, neither of which is accomplished by nature. So this is irrelevant to his argument.
c
The manipulation of ███ ███████ ████ ███████ █████████ ████████ ███ ███████ ██████ ██ ███ ██████████
The negation is: selective breeding is unethical. If so, comparing it to genetic engineering wouldn’t help show that genetic engineering is ethical. Therefore, the author must make this assumption to reach his conclusion.
d
The manipulation of ███ ███████ ████ ███████ █████████ ████████ ███ ███████ ██████ ██ █████████ ███ █████ █████████
Even if genetic manipulation weren’t important for human survival, the author could still believe that it is ethical. This consideration is irrelevant to the argument.
e
Science can accomplish ████ ████ ██ ███████ ██ ████ █████ ████████ ███ ███████ ███████ ██ ██████████
Like (A), this is an extreme assumption that goes far beyond what is necessary. The author is arguing that genetic engineering is ethical. Not that every possible natural behavior is ethical.
Also, there’s no reason to infer the author thinks genetic engineering is natural.