Self-study
Well-intentioned people sometimes attempt to resolve the marital problems of their friends. ███ █████ ████████ ███ ███████ ███████████ ███ ███████ ██████ ██████████ █████ ███ ████████ █████ ████ ████████████████ ████████ ██ ███████ ███ ███████ ████████ ██ ███████ ███ ███████ ████████████
Summarize Argument
The author concludes that people’s well-intentioned attempts to solve their friends’ marital problems are usually unjustified. In support, the author explains that these attempts usually don’t work, and instead just cause resentment.
Notable Assumptions
The author assumes that there’s a link between a well-intentioned attempt to solve a problem being ineffectual and causing resentment, and whether that attempt was justified.
23.
Which one of the following ███████████ ██ ██████ ████ ████████ ████████ ███ █████████ ██████
a
One should get ████████ ██ █████ ████████ ████████ ████ ████ ███ █████████ ██ █████████ ███ ████ ███████ █████████████
This is irrelevant, because the domain of the argument is already limited to well-intentioned attempts. This doesn’t tell us anything about why such an attempt could be unjustified.
b
Interpersonal relations should ██ █████████ ██ ██████████ ████ █████ ████████ ██ ██████ ██████████ ██ ███ █████████████
This is irrelevant. The author never mentions what kinds of actions are “right,” only what’s “justified.” This doesn’t help us with justification at all.
c
Good intentions are ███ ████ ██████████ ███████ ██ █████ ██ ███████ ██ ███████ ███ ███████ ████████ ██ ████████
This still doesn’t help us with the element of justification, and so doesn’t strengthen the argument.
d
The intentions of ██ ██████ ███ ██████████ ██ ███████ ██ ███ ████ ██████ ██ ██████████
This doesn’t strengthen because it still doesn’t tell us what contributes to an action being justified. Intentions are irrelevant, great, but we still don’t know how an action being ineffectual and causing resentment cause it to be unjustified.
e
No actions based ██ ████ ██████████ ███ █████████ ██████ ████ ████ ██████ ██ ████████
This affirms the author’s assumption that a well-intentioned action being ineffectual makes that action unjustified, and so strengthens the argument.