PrepTest 58, Section 3, Question 19

Difficulty:

Anyone who believes in democracy has a high regard for the wisdom of the masses. Griley, however, is an elitist who believes that any artwork that is popular is unlikely to be good. Thus, Griley does not believe in democracy.

Question

The conclusion follows logically if which one of the following is assumed?

Anyone who believes that an artwork is unlikely to be good if it is popular is an elitist.

Anyone who believes that if an artwork is popular it is unlikely to be good does not have a high regard for the wisdom of the masses.

If Griley is not an elitist, then he has a high regard for the wisdom of the masses.

Anyone who does not have a high regard for the wisdom of the masses is an elitist who believes that if an artwork is popular it is unlikely to be good.

Unless Griley believes in democracy, Griley does not have a high regard for the wisdom of the masses.

Raise Hand ✋

Explanations

Belief in democracy

This passage starts with a conditional: If you believe in democracy, then you have a high regard for the wisdom of the masses (if A, then B). This also means that if you don't have such high regard, then you don't believe in democracy (if not B, then not A).

It continues by saying Griley is an elitist and that Griley believes if art is popular then it is unlikely to be good.

The argument then concludes that Griley must not believe in democracy. Notice any gaps? The author is treating the facts we learn about Griley as if they mean Griley must not have a high regard for the wisdom of the masses.

It turns out to be a Sufficient Assumption question, so I need the answer choice that would prove the author's argument.

I need an answer choice that says, "If you think popular art is unlikely to be good, then you don't have a high regard for the wisdom of the masses." That would prove the author's argument.

Nah, this wouldn't work. All this would simply verify the facts we learn about Griley. This does nothing to prove the author's conclusion.

Bingo. Rephrased, this means that if you believe popular art is unlikely to be be good, then you don't have a high regard for the wisdom of the masses.

No way. This wouldn't matter even if it was true because the passage explicitly tells us that Griley is an elitist.

Nope, this confuses sufficient and necessary. This would mean that if you don't have a high regard for the wisdom of the masses, then you must be someone with similar characteristics to Griley. But this wouldn't prove that we're talking about Griley.

No. I expect students will struggle with this one, though. Unless introduces a necessary condition by way of exception. When this says "unless Griley believes in democracy," it means that the only way for whatever words comes next to occur is when Griley believes in democracy. Everything that comes after says, "Griley doesn't have a high regard for the wisdom of the masses." While that's the bit we wanted, in this answer choice, this would only occur under the exception that Griley believed in democracy in the first place. So this answer ultimately contradicts itself relative to the passage.