The question is not asking which answer choice is equivalent to the sentence in the stem. It's asking us to find an answer choice from which we could deduce the sentence in the stem. If E is true, then all Germans (except for Marx) are idealists. Of course it then follows that all German philosophers (except for Marx) are idealists, so we can indeed draw the conclusion in the stem. So E is correct, and no word is missing.
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It cannot be D, because D doesn't states that All German philosophers are idealists (except for Marx of course). Answer D just states that Marx is not an idealist german philosopher.

I think OA misses word "philosophers", Aside from the philosopher Marx, if someone is a German PHILOSOPHER, then he or she is an idealist.

Is this from 1000 CR ? If it is, then I ll be carefull, cause it contains some really lousy constructed questions and answers.

Here you must be careful to read the question: it asks which answer choice will let you draw the conclusion in the stem. It is *not* asking you which answer choice is a correct conclusion based on the stem. The question is set up 'backwards'.

So if you start with D, that 'Marx is not an idealist German philosopher', would it follow logically that 'All German philosophers besides Marx are idealists?' No, you only have information about Marx, not about any other German philosophers. So D is out. E on the other hand, is really just a rephrasing of the stem, so you can certainly draw the conclusion in the stem if you know answer E.
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Ankur - How would you explain this statement?

Aside from the philosopher Marx, if someone is a German, then he or she is an idealist...


I would explain it as below

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KAPLAN OFFICIAL EXPLANATION:

E

Read carefully! You're asked to pick the choice from which the statement can be derived, and that's (E): If, as (E) says, anyone who is a German philosopher is an idealist except for the philosopher Marx, then all German philosophers except for Marx are idealists. That being the case, it would certainly be true that, as the stimulus says, with the exception of Marx, all German philosophers-these folks being a subset of all Germans-are idealists. Now while (E)'s claim that all German philosophers are idealists may sound a bit absurd to you (perhaps you know some German philosophers who aren't idealists), we're concerned with strict logic here, not content.

(A) tells us that except for Marx, if someone's an idealist philosopher, then he or she is German, which is precisely the opposite of what we need: Knowing that all idealist philosophers (except Marx) are German doesn't prove that all German philosophers are idealists, because there could be other kinds of German philosophers. Since the stimulus statement tells us that Marx is a German philosopher who's not an idealist, (B), which contradicts this, is wrong. (C) lets us conclude that German idealists who aren't Marx are philosophers, but we need to conclude that German philosophers (except Marx) are idealists. As for (D), like the stimulus statement, it tells us that Marx isn't an idealist German philosopher, but we need a statement that ensures that every other German philosopher besides Marx is an idealist.
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