Sentence Correction

When hypnotized subjects are told that they are deaf and are then asked whether they can hear the hypnotist, they reply, "No". Some theorists try to explain this result by arguing that the selves of hypnotized subjects are dissociated into separate parts, and that the part that is deaf is dissociated from the part that replies.

Which of the following challenges indicates the most serious weakness in the attempted explanation described above?

(A) Why does the part that replies not answer, "Yes"?
(B) Why are the observed facts in need of any special explanation?
(C) Why do the subjects appear to accept the hypnotist's suggestion that they are deaf?
(D) Why do hypnotized subjects all respond the same way in the situation described?
(E) Why are the separate parts of the self the same for all subjects?

B challenges the reason for making the argument rather than the argument itself.

D does not challenge the argument explaining the phenomenon. It merely asks why the phenomenon occurs in all cases.

E is like D, asking why all cases resemble each other. The answer to that question will not affect the reasoning underlying the explanation discussed in the prompt.

So we are left with more subtle answer choices A and C.

C once again asks why the phenomenon occurs or how it works, without challenging the explanation.

A is the only one that challenges the explanation. Rather than asking how the phenomenon works, A asks why it does not work differently, and what A asks is key.

If the deaf part and the part that replies are truly separate, then the part that replies should not know that there is a deaf part. So the answer from the part that replies should reflect the fact that the part that replies does in fact hear, and should therefore be "Yes."

So the fact that the part that replies answers "No," flies in the face of the argument that says that the part the replies is separate from the part that is, supposedly, deaf.

The correct answer is A.