Every political philosopher....

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Every political philosopher....

by bakhshaliyev » Fri Dec 03, 2010 12:54 am
My answer is B...

Every political philosopher of the early twentieth century who was either a socialist or a communist was influenced by Rosa Luxemburg. No one who was influenced by Rosa Luxemburg advocated a totalitarian state.

If the statements above are true, which one of the following must on the basis of them also is true?

(A) No early-twentieth-century socialist political philosopher advocated a totalitarian state.
(B) Every early-twentieth-century political philosopher who did not advocate a totalitarian state was influenced by Rosa Luxemburg.
(C) Rosa Luxemburg was the only person to influence every early-twentieth-century political philosopher who was either socialist or communist.
(D) Every early-twentieth-century political philosopher who was influenced by Rosa Luxemburg and was not a socialist was a communist.
(E) Every early-twentieth-century political philosopher who did not advocate a totalitarian state was either socialist or communist.
Source: — Critical Reasoning |

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by rishab1988 » Fri Dec 03, 2010 2:16 am
bakhshaliyev wrote:My answer is B...

Every political philosopher of the early twentieth century who was either a socialist or a communist was influenced by Rosa Luxemburg. No one who was influenced by Rosa Luxemburg advocated a totalitarian state.

If the statements above are true, which one of the following must on the basis of them also is true?

(A) No early-twentieth-century socialist political philosopher advocated a totalitarian state.
(B) Every early-twentieth-century political philosopher who did not advocate a totalitarian state was influenced by Rosa Luxemburg.
(C) Rosa Luxemburg was the only person to influence every early-twentieth-century political philosopher who was either socialist or communist.
(D) Every early-twentieth-century political philosopher who was influenced by Rosa Luxemburg and was not a socialist was a communist.
(E) Every early-twentieth-century political philosopher who did not advocate a totalitarian state was either socialist or communist.
The answer should be A.

Read B carefully! It says every political philosopher who DID not advocate totalitarian states was influenced by Rosa.

This is an extreme case[It could be true]

The premise talks only about "socialists or communist".The who is a restrictive clause [without comma it is an essential modifier].It means only those who were communists or socialists did not advocate totalitarian state.What about others such as Democrats etc etc? They too might NOT have advocated totalitarian states!

A is correct for it states simple what the premise says "NO socialist advocated totalitarian state".It does not make any assumptions about anything else