nahid78 wrote:
Editorial: It is clear that if this country’s universities were living up to both their moral and their intellectual responsibilities, the best-selling publications in most university bookstores would not be frivolous ones like TV Today and Gossip Review. However, in most university bookstores the only publication that sells better than Gossip Review is TV Today.
If the statements in the editorial are true, which one of the following must also be true on the basis of them?
(A) People who purchase publications that are devoted primarily to gossip or to television programming are intellectually irresponsible.
(B) It is irresponsible for university bookstores to carry publications such as Gossip Review and TV Today.
(C) Most people who purchase publications at university bookstores purchase either TV Today or Gossip Review.
(D) Many people who attend this country’s universities fail to live up to both their moral and their intellectual responsibilities.
(E) At least some of this country’s universities are not meeting their moral responsibilities or their intellectual responsibilities or both.
OFFICIAL EXPLANATION
(A) No. The passage argues that the universities are intellectually irresponsible, not the people who buy the frivolous publications.
(B) No. The passage implies that if the universities were meeting their intellectual responsibilities then students would be interested in more substantive publications than TV Today and Gossip Review.
(C) No. Being the best-selling publication does not necessarily mean that most people buy it. There may be hundreds of publications.
(D) No. The passage argues that the universities, not the students, fail to live up to both their moral and their intellectual responsibilities.
(E) Yes. This is simply an application of the contrapositive. The argument can be diagrammed as follows:
R—>~F
where R stands for “
this country’s universities were living up to both their moral and their intellectual responsibilities,” and ~F stands for “
the best-selling publications in most university bookstores would not be frivolous ones like TV Today and Gossip Review.”
Now, the statement “
in most university bookstores the only publication that sells better than Gossip Review is TV Today” negates the conclusion of the argument R—>~F. This prompts us to take the contrapositive:
R—>~F
F
∴ ~R
That is, universities are not living up to their moral or intellectual responsibilities.