Obviously, we cannot in any real sense mistreat plants. Plants do not

Obviously, we cannot in any real sense mistreat plants. Plants do not have nervous systems, and having a nervous system is necessary to experience pain.


argument :we cannot in any real sense mistreat plants
Conclusion: nervous system is necessary to experience pain
Missing link : pain and mistreat

(D) Only organisms that can experience pain can be mistreated.

also if negate it :

' organisms that can not experience pain can be mistreated.
The stmt weakens
'

D is the answer IMO

argument: N => P => M
c= plants cannot be mistreated
p= they dont have nerve system
p= nerve system can experience pain
a= w/o pain you cannot be mistreated
notes: we must link pain P => mistreatment M as a necessary condition

necessary assumption
(A) Any P => M, any imps this is a sufficient condition
(B) N => P
(C) N => P
(E) N => M

Ans (D) Only P => M

I feel answer D is the only one that makes sense - Only organisms that can experience pain can be mistreated.

It shows a proper relation

Obviously, we cannot in any real sense mistreat plants. Plants do not have nervous systems, and having a nervous system is necessary to experience pain.

Stimulus: we cannot say in any real sense that plants can be mistreated. Plants do not have nervous system and having a nervous system is necessary to experience pain. we need to assume that for any organism who experiences pain is mistreated.

IMO D

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


(A) Any organism that can experience pain can be mistreated.

(B) Only organisms that have nervous systems can experience pain.

(C) Any organism that has a nervous system can experience pain.

(D) Only organisms that can experience pain can be mistreated.

(E) Any organism that has a nervous system can be mistreated.

What's the difference between A and D answers?

Conclusion: We cannot mistreat plants.

Evidence:

-Plants do not have nervous systems
-Having a nervous system is necessary to experience pain.

So, you have the conclusion that you "cannot" do something and some sort of evidence, but what is missing?

Well, If you "cannot" do something, it means that you do not have what is required to do it, right? With this in mind, lets analyze the answer choices.

(A) Any organism that can experience pain can be mistreated.

This one looks well, but wait, we are looking for a necessary condition. Does "any" express a necessary condition? It expresses of course a condition, but a sufficient one, so Incorrect.

(B) Only organisms that have nervous systems can experience pain.

This one is not correct because is some kind of paraphrase of what we are already given in the evidence of the argument:"Having a nervous system is necessary to experience pain", so Incorrect.

(C) Any organism that has a nervous system can experience pain.

Ok, this seems similar to the previous option, but it changes the relationship between nervous system and experience pain from a necessary condition to a sufficient one, so Incorrect.

(D) Only organisms that can experience pain can be mistreated.

This is similar to (A) but this one shows a necessary condition between "experience pain" and "mistreat plants", so this is the link that we need for the evidence to reach the conclusion. Correct

(E) Any organism that has a nervous system can be mistreated.

This is similar to (A) in the sense that it suggests that a condition ("having a nervous system") is sufficient to mistreat plants, so Incorrect.

Hope it helps!

My analysis on why i selected D over A: It is true that we need to establish a link between pain and being mistreated and both these answer choices contain the required terms. But that's just one part of selecting possible answer choices. Next step is to negate t hem and see if they can 100% destroy the conclusion (or allow any doubts to be raised on confidently concluding).

Option A (if negated): Not all organisms that can experience pain can be mistreated (This means that there are some organisms that cannot experience pain but still be mistreated whereas some organisms that cannot experience pain but still "cannot" be mistreated). If plants lie in the first category, then we cannot break the conclusion because plants can still be mistreated (so even after negating, we can partly say that plants can still be mistreated and this supports the conclusion rather than breaking it). Hence option A is ruled out.

Option D(if negated): Only organisms that cannot experience pain can be mistreated. This means that it is not right to mistreat plants (sine they are eligible for mistreatment even if they dont experience pain). Hence, this goes against the conclusion that plants can be mistreated and hence D is the right answer.

If plant experience pain, they have a nervous system.
Implies,
If they do not have a nervous system, they cannot experience pain.

So,
If plants cannot be mistreated, then they cannot experience pain.
Implies,
If they can experience pain, they can be mistreated.
Implies,
If organisms can experience pain, they can be mistreated.

This is option D.

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Obviously, we cannot in any real sense mistreat plants. Plants do not have nervous systems, and having a nervous system is necessary to experience pain.

As per author :
Nervous system ->> Pain ->**> mistreat

(A) Any organism that can experience pain can be mistreated. - sure but is it ONLY by pains? NO.
(B) Only organisms that have nervous systems can experience pain. - fact as stated, not a derivation
(C) Any organism that has a nervous system can experience pain. - as B
(D) Only organisms that can experience pain can be mistreated. - sure but is it ONLY by pains? YESS!
(E) Any organism that has a nervous system can be mistreated. - sure but is it ONLY by pains? NO.

Please explain difference between Option A and Option D.

­Here's the passage:

Obviously, we cannot in any real sense mistreat plants. Plants do not have nervous systems, and having a nervous system is necessary to experience pain.

We see that the conclusion is about what cannot be done, "We cannot ... mistreat plants." The support for the conclusion is, basically, that plants do not have nervous systems therefore cannot experience pain.

So, the point is that the fact that something cannot experience pain supports the conclusion that it cannot be mistreated.

We need an assumption that connects the evidence that plants cannot experience pain to the conclusion that we cannot mistreat plants.

In other words, we need something that means that being able to experience pain is necessary for being able to be mistreated.

Now, let's compare (A) and (D).

(A) Any organism that can experience pain can be mistreated.

This statement does not help to complete the argument.

Notice that, even if this statement is true, it does not mean that a plant cannot be mistreated.

After all, the fact that an organism that CAN experience pain CAN be mistreated doesn't mean that an organism that CANNOT experience pain CANNOT be mistreated.

In other words, given what this statement says, it could be that any organism that experiences pain, along with some organisms that cannot, can be mistreated.

So, (A) doesn't do what we need.

Now, let's consider (D).

(D) Only organisms that can experience pain can be mistreated.

Notice that, if "Only organisms that can experience pain can be mistreated," then organisms that cannot experience pain cannot be mistreated.

So, this choice does just what we need.

It completes the argument as follows:

Plants do not have nervous systems, and having a nervous system is necessary to experience pain. Only organisms that can experience pain can be mistreated (meaning organisms that cannot experience pain cannot be mistreated. Obviously (therefore), we cannot in any real sense mistreat plants.

So, the correct answer is (D).­

There are two important parts to this question:

1. Obviously, we cannot in any real sense mistreat plants.
- This establishes that plants cannot be mistreated.

2. Plants do not have nervous systems, and having a nervous system is necessary to experience pain.
- This establishes that plants cannot experience pain due to absence of nervous systems.

If you compare the two conclusions, you would notice there is a lack of association between mistreatment and the experience of pain. Basically, the two statements together do not establish that mistreatment would only be a result of an experience that leads to pain (although I differ with this opinion personally).

Hence, Option D: Only organisms that can experience pain can be mistreated establishes that missing connection between the notion of mistreatment and experiencing pain.

D is the correct answer.