Critical Reasoning

Some argue that laws are instituted at least in part to help establish a particular moral fabric in society. But the primary function of law is surely to help order society so that its institutions, organizations, and citizenry can work together harmoniously, regardless of any further moral aims of the law. Indeed, the highest courts have on occasion treated moral beliefs based on conscience or religious faith as grounds for making exceptions in the
application of laws.

The statements above, if true, most strongly support which one of the following?

A] The manner in which laws are applied sometimes takes into account the beliefs of the people governed by those laws.

B] The law has as one of its functions the ordering of society but is devoid of moral aims.

C] Actions based on religious belief or on moral conviction tend to receive the protection of the highest courts.

D} The way a society is ordered by law should not reflect any moral convictions about the way society ought to be ordered.

E} The best way to promote cooperation among a society's institutions, organizations, and citizenry is to institute order in that society by means of law.


The OA is A. The correct answer the I got is E. Try these 700 level questions....

[email protected] wrote:Some argue that laws are instituted at least in part to help establish a particular moral fabric in society. But the primary function of law is surely to help order society so that its institutions, organizations, and citizenry can work together harmoniously, regardless of any further moral aims of the law. Indeed, the highest courts have on occasion treated moral beliefs based on conscience or religious faith as grounds for making exceptions in the application of laws.

The statements above, if true, most strongly support which one of the following?

A] The manner in which laws are applied sometimes takes into account the beliefs of the people governed by those laws.

B] The law has as one of its functions the ordering of society but is devoid of moral aims.

C] Actions based on religious belief or on moral conviction tend to receive the protection of the highest courts.

D} The way a society is ordered by law should not reflect any moral convictions about the way society ought to be ordered.

E} The best way to promote cooperation among a society's institutions, organizations, and citizenry is to institute order in that society by means of law.


The OA is A. The correct answer the I got is E. Try these 700 level questions....

Answer choice A: The manner in which laws are applied sometimes takes into account the beliefs of the people governed by those laws.
From the passage: The highest courts have on occasion treated moral beliefs as grounds for making exceptions in the application of laws.

The correct answer is A.

All of the other answer choices can be eliminated because of extreme language that is not supported by the passage:

B) The law is DEVOID of moral aims.

C) Actions based on religious belief TEND to receive the protection of the highest courts.

D) The way a society is ordered by law should not reflect ANY moral convictions about the way society ought to be ordered.

E} The BEST way to promote cooperation among a society's institutions is to institute order in that society by means of law.
No other ways are discussed in the passage, so we cannot infer that any particular way is the BEST.

(A) for me.

GMATGuruNY wrote:

[email protected] wrote:Some argue that laws are instituted at least in part to help establish a particular moral fabric in society. But the primary function of law is surely to help order society so that its institutions, organizations, and citizenry can work together harmoniously, regardless of any further moral aims of the law. Indeed, the highest courts have on occasion treated moral beliefs based on conscience or religious faith as grounds for making exceptions in the application of laws.

The statements above, if true, most strongly support which one of the following?

A] The manner in which laws are applied sometimes takes into account the beliefs of the people governed by those laws.

B] The law has as one of its functions the ordering of society but is devoid of moral aims.

C] Actions based on religious belief or on moral conviction tend to receive the protection of the highest courts.

D} The way a society is ordered by law should not reflect any moral convictions about the way society ought to be ordered.

E} The best way to promote cooperation among a society's institutions, organizations, and citizenry is to institute order in that society by means of law.


The OA is A. The correct answer the I got is E. Try these 700 level questions....

Answer choice A: The manner in which laws are applied sometimes takes into account the beliefs of the people governed by those laws.
From the passage: The highest courts have on occasion treated moral beliefs as grounds for making exceptions in the application of laws.

The correct answer is A.

All of the other answer choices can be eliminated because of extreme language that is not supported by the passage:

B) The law is DEVOID of moral aims.

C) Actions based on religious belief TEND to receive the protection of the highest courts.

D) The way a society is ordered by law should not reflect ANY moral convictions about the way society ought to be ordered.

E} The BEST way to promote cooperation among a society's institutions is to institute order in that society by means of law.
No other ways are discussed in the passage, so we cannot infer that any particular way is the BEST.

Hi Mitch,

I had the following doubt in A:

I want to understand how is A correct. The last line talks about beliefs but these beliefs could very well be the beliefs of the law makers and not the people being governed.

[email protected] wrote:

GMATGuruNY wrote:

[email protected] wrote:

Hi Mitch,

I had the following doubt in A:

I want to understand how is A correct. The last line talks about beliefs but these beliefs could very well be the beliefs of the law makers and not the people being governed.

Hi,

The answer has a major basis in the following statement: Indeed, the highest courts have on occasion treated moral beliefs based on conscience or religious faith as grounds for making exceptions in the application of laws.

Conscience or religious faith are aspects that are a part of shared history or shared social fabric of a society. Thus, the statement is talking about taking into consideration the principals and beliefs held by a major section of the people and not just the lawmakers.

I hope this clarifies the doubt.

[email protected] wrote:Hi Mitch,

I had the following doubt in A:

I want to understand how is A correct. The last line talks about beliefs but these beliefs could very well be the beliefs of the law makers and not the people being governed.

Lawmakers -- by definition -- MAKE laws.
They do not APPLY laws.
Once lawmakers have made a law, COURTS determine how it is applied to the citizenry.
The highest courts have on occasion treated moral beliefs based on conscience or religious faith as grounds for making exceptions in the application of laws.
Since courts determine how laws are applied to the citizenry, the portion in blue must refer to the moral beliefs of CITIZENS.