Society

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adi_800: Legendary Member; Posts: 544; Joined: Thu Oct 08, 2009 9:14 amFollowed by: 2 members; Location: Pune, India; Thanked: 31 times

by adi_800 » Fri Jul 30, 2010 7:55 pm

The value of a society must be judged on the total amount of satisfaction that exists within it. Clearly, the best society is the one that allows every individual the opportunity to unleash, and to seek to gratify, his or her personal desires.

The argument above assumes which of the following?
A. People's desires and pursuits are mutually compatible, and the gratification of one person's desires never excludes the gratification of another's.
B. Laws have been imposed only to ensure the even distribution of the available amount of group satisfaction.
C. Each individual has it within his or her power to gratify all of his or her personal desires, provided the state does not interfere.
D. The total amount of satisfaction within any given society would be greatest if that society left all desires unfettered.
E. It is possible to erect a completely peaceful and harmonious society solely on the basis of individual power struggles.

Source: Beat The GMAT — Critical Reasoning | Fri Jul 30, 2010 7:55 pm

amritashwar_lal2k: Newbie | Next Rank: 10 Posts; Posts: 9; Joined: Tue Aug 25, 2009 9:45 am; Location: India; Thanked: 3 times

by amritashwar_lal2k » Fri Jul 30, 2010 8:21 pm

I believe the answer is A.

On the first cursory look :

A) Sounds like an assumption as talks about desires and pursuits in a society (possible answer)

b) Laws .... Even distribution... does not relate directly to the conclusion of total satisfaction (not an answer)

c) Sounds like an assumption as talks about individual's capability to achieve society's satisfaction (possible answer)

d) Adds another condition of .. if that society left all desires unfettered. .. Therefore, does not relate directly to the conclusion (not an answer)

e) Out of context as talks about individual power struggles (not an answer)

Now with assumption negation

a) The extremes of the condition that "one person's desires never excludes the gratification of another's", weakens or strengthens the conclusion

c) "provided the state does not interfere" makes the impact very conditional.

Hence the A wins

FightWithGMAT: Master | Next Rank: 500 Posts; Posts: 364; Joined: Tue Apr 20, 2010 5:13 amFollowed by: 3 members; Thanked: 31 times

by FightWithGMAT » Sat Jul 31, 2010 11:25 am

adi_800 wrote:The value of a society must be judged on the total amount of satisfaction that exists within it. Clearly, the best society is the one that allows every individual the opportunity to unleash, and to seek to gratify, his or her personal desires.

The argument above assumes which of the following?
A. People's desires and pursuits are mutually compatible, and the gratification of one person's desires never excludes the gratification of another's.
B. Laws have been imposed only to ensure the even distribution of the available amount of group satisfaction.
C. Each individual has it within his or her power to gratify all of his or her personal desires, provided the state does not interfere.
D. The total amount of satisfaction within any given society would be greatest if that society left all desires unfettered.
E. It is possible to erect a completely peaceful and harmonious society solely on the basis of individual power struggles.

It is A.

Negation of A would make the conclusion invalid.

M09: Master | Next Rank: 500 Posts; Posts: 110; Joined: Tue Dec 23, 2008 4:52 am; Thanked: 3 times

by M09 » Sat Jul 31, 2010 11:17 pm

amritashwar_lal2k,FightWithGMAT

Could you please form the negated assumption statement and show me how the conclusion falls apart?

I feel C is closer as well.

Adi_800,

what's OA ?

neha.patni: Master | Next Rank: 500 Posts; Posts: 227; Joined: Wed Dec 16, 2009 1:15 am; Location: Colombo, Sri Lanka; Thanked: 3 times

by neha.patni » Sun Aug 01, 2010 3:03 am

adi_800 wrote:The value of a society must be judged on the total amount of satisfaction that exists within it. Clearly, the best society is the one that allows every individual the opportunity to unleash, and to seek to gratify, his or her personal desires.

The argument above assumes which of the following?
A. People's desires and pursuits are mutually compatible, and the gratification of one person's desires never excludes the gratification of another's.
B. Laws have been imposed only to ensure the even distribution of the available amount of group satisfaction.
C. Each individual has it within his or her power to gratify all of his or her personal desires, provided the state does not interfere.
D. The total amount of satisfaction within any given society would be greatest if that society left all desires unfettered.
E. It is possible to erect a completely peaceful and harmonious society solely on the basis of individual power struggles.

completed in 1 min 23 sec

IMO A

Conclusion - the best society is the one that allows every individual the opportunity to unleash, and to seek to gratify, his or her personal desires.

This is only possible, when everybody has the freedom to follow his/her dreams but this action (following own's dreams) should not interfere with the action (following own's dreams) of the other community members. A confirms this by stating the people's desires and pursuits as mutually compatible.

It can't be C - interference of state is out of scope in this argument.

Shawshank: Master | Next Rank: 500 Posts; Posts: 305; Joined: Mon Jul 27, 2009 5:38 am; Thanked: 10 times

by Shawshank » Sun Aug 01, 2010 5:48 am

IMO -- A

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Shawshank Redemtion -- Hope is still alive ...

selango: Legendary Member; Posts: 1460; Joined: Tue Dec 29, 2009 1:28 amFollowed by: 7 members; Thanked: 135 times

by selango » Sun Aug 01, 2010 10:22 am

One more vote for A

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