PrepTest 68, Section 3, Question 15
Anyone who knows Ellsworth knows that he is bursting with self-righteousness, touting the idealism of his generation over the greed of the previous generation. So no one who knows him will be surprised that Ellsworth is offended by the suggestions in the media that he has engaged in unethical business practices.
Anyone who knows Ellsworth knows that he is bursting with self-righteousness, touting the idealism of his generation over the greed of the previous generation. So no one who knows him will be surprised that Ellsworth is offended by the suggestions in the media that he has engaged in unethical business practices.
Anyone who knows Ellsworth knows that he is bursting with self-righteousness, touting the idealism of his generation over the greed of the previous generation. So no one who knows him will be surprised that Ellsworth is offended by the suggestions in the media that he has engaged in unethical business practices.
Anyone who knows Ellsworth knows that he is bursting with self-righteousness, touting the idealism of his generation over the greed of the previous generation. So no one who knows him will be surprised that Ellsworth is offended by the suggestions in the media that he has engaged in unethical business practices.
The conclusion drawn above follows logically if which one of the following is assumed?
Everyone suspects self-righteous people of being, in actuality, unethical.
Ellsworth has been accused of unethical business practices before.
Hypocrites often hide behind righteous indignation.
Ellsworth is in fact innocent of all wrongdoing.
Everyone expects self-righteous people to be easily offended.
Explanations
This is an awkward argument. This dude, Ellsworth, looks like a hypocrite. But it's a Sufficient Assumption question, so we need to prove that. Let's break down the argument carefully.
(1) If you know Ellsworth, you know he's self-righteous—particularly about the greedy past generation and the idealistic current generation.
(2) Since knowing Ellsworth is sufficient to know he's self-righteous, the author concludes that anyone who knows him—and thereby knows he's self-righteous—won't be surprised to learn he's offended by recent allegations that he's involved in shady business practices.
To prove this last bit, we just need to prove that people who know Ellsworth—someone self-righteous—aren't surprised by his indignation toward the media allegations.
Let's see.
Nah, total trap. Don't fall for it. All this proves is that people who know Ellsworth won't be surprised about the allegations, not that he's offended by the allegations. Every word counts.
Nope. Cool story, bro. But this doesn't weigh in on whether or not those who know Ellsworth will be surprised about his indignation toward the media allegations.
Nah. Like B, great—I'm sure hypocrites often do hide behind righteous indignation. But this doesn't help me prove that people who know Ellsworth aren't surprised by his indignation.
No way. So far, this is the worst of a bad bunch. How would this remotely help me prove that people who know Ellsworth won't be surprised to find he's indignant about the media's allegations? Moving on.
Bingo! If 100% of people expect the self-righteous to be easily offended, and knowing Ellsworth means knowing he' self-righteous, then you wouldn't be shocked to learn he's offended by the media. This proves the conclusion.
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