Inference question - German philosophers - The Beat The GMAT Forum

Inference question - German philosophers

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cfoster: Newbie | Next Rank: 10 Posts; Posts: 1; Joined: Wed Jan 26, 2011 7:22 pm

by cfoster » Thu Jan 27, 2011 2:59 pm

All German philosophers, except for Marx, are idealists.

From which of the following can the statement above be most properly inferred?

A) Except for Marx, if someone is an idealist philosopher, then he or she is German.

B) Marx is the only non-German philosopher who is an idealist.

C) If a German is an idealist, then he or she is a philosopher, as long as he or she is not Marx.

D) Marx is not an idealist German philosopher.

E) Aside from the philosopher Marx, if someone is a German philosopher, then he or she is an idealist.
[spoiler]OA is E. Why is D wrong?[/spoiler]

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Source: Beat The GMAT — Critical Reasoning | Thu Jan 27, 2011 2:59 pm

fitzgerald23: Master | Next Rank: 500 Posts; Posts: 219; Joined: Mon Mar 08, 2010 8:51 pmFollowed by: 5 members; Thanked: 62 times; GMAT Score:750

by fitzgerald23 » Thu Jan 27, 2011 3:44 pm

What does the argument tell us?

1. Except for Marx, All German philosophers are idealists
2. Marx is not an idealist, but he is German.

Now we need information that allows us to make that argument:

A. Incorrect. All Germans may be idealists, but that does not mean all idealists are German.

B. Incorrect. Marx is German

C. Incorrect. Just because you are German does not make you an idealist. You must be a German phiosopher

D. Incorrect. While this information is correct does it confirm the initial argument? No. This is telling us that Marx is not an idealist German philosopher but it tells us nothing of the other German philosophers. So only half the statement could be made from this information.

E. Correct. This hits all the points. It states all German philosophers are idealist and that Marx is the one exception to the rule.

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Night reader: Legendary Member; Posts: 1337; Joined: Sat Dec 27, 2008 6:29 pmFollowed by: 10 members; Thanked: 127 times

by Night reader » Thu Jan 27, 2011 3:55 pm

All German philosophers, except for Marx, are idealists.

From which of the following can the statement above be most properly inferred?

A) Except for Marx, if someone is an idealist philosopher, then he or she is German. <-- Incorrect, German is the precedent of the idealist philosopher(s) not the opposite;

B) Marx is the only non-German philosopher who is an idealist. <-- Incorrect, this doesn't stem from the premise given

C) If a German is an idealist, then he or she is a philosopher, as long as he or she is not Marx. <-- Incorrect, Generalization based on the premise

D) Marx is not an idealist German philosopher. <-- Incorrect, Marx is German philosopher yet

E) Aside from the philosopher Marx, if someone is a German philosopher, then he or she is an idealist. <-- Correct, all words in this answer choice are the restatements of the premise given

German philosophers (if someone is a German philosopher), except for Marx (Aside from the philosopher Marx) , are idealists (then he or she is an idealist).

note however, if the condition would have been put in the past tense, then this answer had signaled us about unreal situation. Good that we have regular condition being set for E).

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vatsalroxy: Junior | Next Rank: 30 Posts; Posts: 27; Joined: Thu Jan 20, 2011 2:41 am; Thanked: 2 times

by vatsalroxy » Thu Jan 27, 2011 11:57 pm

concur with the reasoning above! it is infact E . Rest are traps ..

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prachich1987: Legendary Member; Posts: 752; Joined: Sun Sep 12, 2010 2:47 amFollowed by: 10 members; Thanked: 20 times; GMAT Score:700

by prachich1987 » Sat Jan 29, 2011 3:27 am

Night reader wrote: D) Marx is not an idealist German philosopher. <-- Incorrect, Marx is German philosopher yet

I have doubt in above.
D says that "Marx is not an idealist German philosopher"
It doesn't say that "Max is not a German philosopher"

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vatsalroxy: Junior | Next Rank: 30 Posts; Posts: 27; Joined: Thu Jan 20, 2011 2:41 am; Thanked: 2 times

by vatsalroxy » Sat Jan 29, 2011 3:42 am

@prachi !

Like its mentioned above. D just says that Marx is not an IDEALIST GERMAN PHILO. Does it say that rest of them are ? or are not ? Does it exclusively say it for Marx or Marx is one of the german philos who are not idealists??? So u cant isolate Marx there from other German philos who were not idealists thats y we dont consider that option quite a strong one..Rather its a trap. It lures u in with the obvious inference part.

Are u getting my point here??

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David@VeritasPrep: GMAT Instructor; Posts: 2193; Joined: Mon Feb 22, 2010 6:30 pmFollowed by: 512 members; Location: Vermont and Boston, MA; Thanked: 1186 times; GMAT Score:770

by David@VeritasPrep » Sat Jan 29, 2011 3:46 pm

Prachich1987 -

I think that the key point here is what type of question is this?

If you look at the question stem you see that it says "from which one of the following can the statement above be most properly inferred?"

That means that the statement above is the conclusion and you are looking to pick the premise that guarantees the conclusion. Here is something unusual and not a typical GMAT type!

If you read this question stem and treat it as an inference question where the answer choice must be true then D would be true. If the above is the evidence, then we can say that Marx is not an idealist. So it would be true that he is not a German idealist philosopher.

However, we are looking for the answer choice that proves the above conclusion. E does this because it gives you parts - Marx is not idealist and all other German philosophers are.

This is what Fitzgerald23 said in the first reply. I have just said it with more words!

Does it help?

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prachich1987: Legendary Member; Posts: 752; Joined: Sun Sep 12, 2010 2:47 amFollowed by: 10 members; Thanked: 20 times; GMAT Score:700

by prachich1987 » Sat Jan 29, 2011 9:32 pm

Thanks David!!!

Thanks!
Prachi

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