Critical Reasoning

Only if the electorate is moral and intelligent will a democracy function well.
Which one of the following can be logically inferred from the claim above?
(A) If the electorate is moral and intelligent, then a democracy will function well.
(B) Either a democracy does not function well or else the electorate is not moral or not intelligent.
(C) If the electorate is not moral or not intelligent, then a democracy will not function well.
(D) If a democracy does not function well, then the electorate is not moral or not intelligent.
(E) It cannot, at the same time, be true that the electorate is moral and intelligent and that a democracy will not function well.

Could somebody explain the answer?

A --> B is pronounced 'A implies B'. If A is true, then B must be true.

In this case democracy functions well only if the electorate is moral. (D)emocracy --> (M)orality.


In logic, if A --> B, then Not B --> Not A.

Example: If it is raining, I will use an umbrella. R --> U.
Therefore, if I am not using an umbrella, it is not raining. Not U --> Not R.

Therefore we can write:

No Morality implies No Democracy. C.

torontogmat.com wrote:A --> B is pronounced 'A implies B'. If A is true, then B must be true.

In this case democracy functions well only if the electorate is moral. (D)emocracy --> (M)orality.


In logic, if A --> B, then Not B --> Not A.

Example: If it is raining, I will use an umbrella. R --> U.
Therefore, if I am not using an umbrella, it is not raining. Not U --> Not R.

Therefore we can write:

No Morality implies No Democracy. C.

I agree with your logic but the correct answer should be D, as it complies with 'Not B --> Not A'

TorontoGMAT interpreted the question correctly.

"Only if the electorate is moral and intelligent will a democracy function well."

A moral and intelligent electorate is necessary to the functioning of democracy. Therefore, if we don't have a moral and intelligent electorate, we won't have a well-functioning democracy: choose (c).

To chose (d), we'd have to interpret the original as:

"If the electorate is moral and intelligent, a democracy will function well", which ignores the "only" part of the sentence.

Further, if you interpet the statement that way, both (a) and (e) would also be 100% correct. Since that interpretation leads to 3 correct choices, we know that it can't be right.

Thanks for all for detail explanation.

I totally agree with you, guys!