Passage Summary: A historian argues that regular citizens in a past regime should be classified as murderers because they killed people to reach a goal that was actually impossible to attain.

Conclusion: At least some of the ordinary people of the ancient regime of Q were murderers.

Reasoning: The regime was composed of ordinary people who executed many others in pursuit of a paradise that was later discovered to be impossible to achieve.

Analysis: The historian's argument hinges on a specific moral bridge: the transition from 'killing for a cause' to 'committing murder' based on the feasibility of that cause. We have ordinary people who were enthusiastically seeking paradise and killing people to get there, but the historian concludes they are murderers simply because the goal was unrealizable. To justify this, we need a principle that strips away any 'noble cause' defense if the cause itself is a fantasy. Look for an answer choice that establishes a rule stating that killing in pursuit of an unattainable goal constitutes murder, regardless of the killers' intentions. It seems that in this historian's eyes, having your head in the clouds doesn't excuse having blood on your hands.