Principle JustifyDiff: Medium
Logic Breakdown
Passage Summary: Since our sense of beauty evolved as a tool to keep us alive, we should evaluate our aesthetic tastes by how well they help us stay alive today.
Conclusion: Aesthetic judgments should be judged based on how effectively they promote an individual's survival.
Reasoning: The human brain and its mental capacities, including aesthetic judgment, evolved as adaptations to help humans survive in past environments.
Analysis: The argument makes a leap from a biological fact (evolutionary origin) to a moral or evaluative standard (how we should judge things). To justify this reasoning, we need a principle that links the 'origin' of a capacity to its 'proper evaluation.' Look for a rule stating that if a mental capacity evolved for a specific purpose, it must be measured by its success in fulfilling that purpose. This would turn the author's observation about the past into a requirement for the present.
Conclusion: Aesthetic judgments should be judged based on how effectively they promote an individual's survival.
Reasoning: The human brain and its mental capacities, including aesthetic judgment, evolved as adaptations to help humans survive in past environments.
Analysis: The argument makes a leap from a biological fact (evolutionary origin) to a moral or evaluative standard (how we should judge things). To justify this reasoning, we need a principle that links the 'origin' of a capacity to its 'proper evaluation.' Look for a rule stating that if a mental capacity evolved for a specific purpose, it must be measured by its success in fulfilling that purpose. This would turn the author's observation about the past into a requirement for the present.
Passage Stimulus
Passage Redacted
Unlock Full Passage18.Which one of the following is a principle that would, if valid, provide the strongest justification for the reasoning above?
Correct Answer
C
It directly bridges the gap: if something develops to serve a function, judge it by how well it serves that function. That licenses evaluating aesthetic judgments by how much they promote individual survival, given the premise that mental capacities evolved for self-preservation.
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