Last visit was: 15 Jul 2025, 09:34 It is currently 15 Jul 2025, 09:34
Close
GMAT Club Daily Prep
Thank you for using the timer - this advanced tool can estimate your performance and suggest more practice questions. We have subscribed you to Daily Prep Questions via email.

Customized
for You

we will pick new questions that match your level based on your Timer History

Track
Your Progress

every week, we’ll send you an estimated GMAT score based on your performance

Practice
Pays

we will pick new questions that match your level based on your Timer History
Not interested in getting valuable practice questions and articles delivered to your email? No problem, unsubscribe here.
Close
Request Expert Reply
Confirm Cancel
User avatar
kidchaos
User avatar
Current Student
Joined: 26 Jul 2010
Last visit: 08 Nov 2017
Posts: 311
Own Kudos:
317
 [49]
Given Kudos: 24
Affiliations: Volunteer Operation Smile India, Creative Head of College IEEE branch (2009-10), Chief Editor College Magazine (2009), Finance Head College Magazine (2008)
Location: India
WE2: Entrepreneur (E-commerce - The Laptop Skin Vault)
Concentration: Marketing, Entrepreneurship
GMAT 1: 710 Q49 V38
WE:Marketing (Other)
6
Kudos
Add Kudos
43
Bookmarks
Bookmark this Post
Most Helpful Reply
User avatar
adishail
Joined: 06 Jun 2009
Last visit: 06 Feb 2012
Posts: 217
Own Kudos:
161
 [18]
Location: USA
WE 1: Engineering
Posts: 217
Kudos: 161
 [18]
15
Kudos
Add Kudos
3
Bookmarks
Bookmark this Post
User avatar
IanStewart
User avatar
GMAT Tutor
Joined: 24 Jun 2008
Last visit: 15 July 2025
Posts: 4,142
Own Kudos:
10,625
 [12]
Given Kudos: 97
 Q51  V47
Expert
Expert reply
Posts: 4,142
Kudos: 10,625
 [12]
10
Kudos
Add Kudos
2
Bookmarks
Bookmark this Post
General Discussion
avatar
kimakim
Joined: 24 Jun 2010
Last visit: 27 May 2011
Posts: 7
Own Kudos:
304
 [4]
Given Kudos: 1
Posts: 7
Kudos: 304
 [4]
2
Kudos
Add Kudos
1
Bookmarks
Bookmark this Post
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.
User avatar
Yalephd
Joined: 03 Aug 2010
Last visit: 31 Oct 2019
Posts: 67
Own Kudos:
Given Kudos: 63
GMAT Date: 08-08-2011
Posts: 67
Kudos: 327
Kudos
Add Kudos
Bookmarks
Bookmark this Post
All German philosophers, except for Marx, are idealists.

From which of the following can the statement above be most properly inferred?

D) Marx is not an idealist German philosopher.

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

Why is D wrong?
User avatar
IanStewart
User avatar
GMAT Tutor
Joined: 24 Jun 2008
Last visit: 15 July 2025
Posts: 4,142
Own Kudos:
10,625
 [10]
Given Kudos: 97
 Q51  V47
Expert
Expert reply
Posts: 4,142
Kudos: 10,625
 [10]
6
Kudos
Add Kudos
4
Bookmarks
Bookmark this Post
Yalephd
All German philosophers, except for Marx, are idealists.

From which of the following can the statement above be most properly inferred?

D) Marx is not an idealist German philosopher.

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

Why is D wrong?

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.
User avatar
Transcendentalist
Joined: 24 Nov 2012
Last visit: 04 Dec 2023
Posts: 131
Own Kudos:
Given Kudos: 73
Concentration: Sustainability, Entrepreneurship
GMAT 1: 770 Q50 V44
WE:Business Development (Internet and New Media)
GMAT 1: 770 Q50 V44
Posts: 131
Kudos: 1,049
Kudos
Add Kudos
Bookmarks
Bookmark this Post
kidchaos
All German philosphers, except for Marx, are idealists.

From which of the following can the statement above be most properly inferred?

1. Except for Marx, if someone is an idealist philosopher, then he or she is German.
2. Marx is the only non-German philosopher who is an idealist.
3. If a German is an idealist, then he or she is a philosopher, as long as he or she is not Marx.
4. Marx is not an idealist German philosopher.
5. Aside from the philosopher Marx, if someone is a German, then he or she is an idealist.


Let me try and break this down...

Question - Which of the answer choices from can the question stem be properly inferred? Not the other way around. Or in other words once the answer choice is established as a premise, the question stem can be inferred.

Since everyone pretty much arrives at option E, lets analyze the statement in detail.

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

All germans except for marx are ideaists...

It can be inferred that all german philosophers (Since they are german) are idealists. So would all german doctors, assasins and bus drivers.
User avatar
Transcendentalist
Joined: 24 Nov 2012
Last visit: 04 Dec 2023
Posts: 131
Own Kudos:
1,049
 [2]
Given Kudos: 73
Concentration: Sustainability, Entrepreneurship
GMAT 1: 770 Q50 V44
WE:Business Development (Internet and New Media)
GMAT 1: 770 Q50 V44
Posts: 131
Kudos: 1,049
 [2]
2
Kudos
Add Kudos
Bookmarks
Bookmark this Post
ankur1901
Transcendentalist
kidchaos
All German philosphers, except for Marx, are idealists.

From which of the following can the statement above be most properly inferred?

1. Except for Marx, if someone is an idealist philosopher, then he or she is German.
2. Marx is the only non-German philosopher who is an idealist.
3. If a German is an idealist, then he or she is a philosopher, as long as he or she is not Marx.
4. Marx is not an idealist German philosopher.
5. Aside from the philosopher Marx, if someone is a German, then he or she is an idealist.


Let me try and break this down...

Question - Which of the answer choices from can the question stem be properly inferred? Not the other way around. Or in other words once the answer choice is established as a premise, the question stem can be inferred.

Since everyone pretty much arrives at option E, lets analyze the statement in detail.

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

All germans except for marx are ideaists...

It can be inferred that all german philosophers (Since they are german) are idealists. So would all german doctors, assasins and bus drivers.

Hi Transcendentalist

Its nowhere mentioned that All germans are idealist. Hence E can be correct only if philosopher is inserted. Please can you clarifiy if i am missing any point. Refer to the attached venn diagram to explain the question stem.


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
Attachments

Delete.jpg
Delete.jpg [ 31.54 KiB | Viewed 35904 times ]

User avatar
Heisenberg12
Joined: 10 Jun 2016
Last visit: 16 Apr 2019
Posts: 73
Own Kudos:
94
 [2]
Given Kudos: 589
Location: India
Concentration: Operations, Strategy
GMAT 1: 710 Q49 V37
GPA: 3.3
WE:Project Management (Energy)
Products:
1
Kudos
Add Kudos
1
Bookmarks
Bookmark this Post
souvik101990
All German philosphers, except for Marx, are idealists.

From which of the following can the statement above be most properly inferred?

A. Except for Marx, if someone is an idealist philosopher, then he or she is German.

B. Marx is the only non-German philosopher who is an idealist.

C. If a German is an idealist, then he or she is a philosopher, as long as he or she is not Marx.

D. Marx is not an idealist German philosopher.

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


Option A: The prompt talks about German philosophers who are not Marx. Option A talks about all philosophers except Marx. This subtle difference makes Option A incorrect.

Option B: If Marx is a non-German philosopher who is an idealist, the correct inference would be All non-German philosophers, except Marx are non-idealists. Option B is incorrect.

Option C: This option reverses the conditions of an idealist and a philosopher. Therefore, it is incorrect.

Option D: This is subtle. If Marx is not an idealist German philosopher, there would be doubts such as "is Marx not an idealist?" or "is Marx not a German?" or "is Marx not a philosopher?" Because of so many doubts, option D is incorrect.

Option E: This option establishes Marx as a philosopher. It also undoes the problematic reversal observed in Option C. Therefore, E is the correct answer.
User avatar
Bunuel
User avatar
Math Expert
Joined: 02 Sep 2009
Last visit: 14 Jul 2025
Posts: 102,579
Own Kudos:
Given Kudos: 98,190
Products:
Expert
Expert reply
Active GMAT Club Expert! Tag them with @ followed by their username for a faster response.
Posts: 102,579
Kudos: 741,606
Kudos
Add Kudos
Bookmarks
Bookmark this Post
kidchaos
All German philosphers, except for Marx, are idealists.

From which of the following can the statement above be most properly inferred?


A. Except for Marx, if someone is an idealist philosopher, then he or she is German.

B. Marx is the only non-German philosopher who is an idealist.

C. If a German is an idealist, then he or she is a philosopher, as long as he or she is not Marx.

D. Marx is not an idealist German philosopher.

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

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.
User avatar
Tamalmallick13
Joined: 11 Aug 2019
Last visit: 16 May 2020
Posts: 20
Own Kudos:
3
 [1]
Given Kudos: 15
Posts: 20
Kudos: 3
 [1]
Kudos
Add Kudos
1
Bookmarks
Bookmark this Post
The answer choice D is not incorrect, but answer choice E is better. I doubt whether GMAT allows that much ambiguity.
User avatar
DmitryFarber
User avatar
Manhattan Prep Instructor
Joined: 22 Mar 2011
Last visit: 14 Jul 2025
Posts: 2,950
Own Kudos:
8,399
 [1]
Given Kudos: 57
GMAT 2: 780  Q50  V50
Expert
Expert reply
GMAT Focus 1: 745 Q86 V90 DI85
Posts: 2,950
Kudos: 8,399
 [1]
1
Kudos
Add Kudos
Bookmarks
Bookmark this Post
Tamalmallick13 That would be a problem, but D would only work if we had been asked to infer an answer from the given statement. The question is asking us which ANSWER would allow us to infer the given statement, so it's kind of a reverse question. D only tells us about Marx, so we can't infer anything about other philosophers.
User avatar
Crytiocanalyst
Joined: 16 Jun 2021
Last visit: 27 May 2023
Posts: 951
Own Kudos:
Given Kudos: 309
Posts: 951
Kudos: 202
Kudos
Add Kudos
Bookmarks
Bookmark this Post
A. Except for Marx, if someone is an idealist philosopher, then he or she is German.
They might be an outsider a non-german

B. Marx is the only non-German philosopher who is an idealist.
We have no clue whether Marrx is a german

C. If a German is an idealist, then he or she is a philosopher, as long as he or she is not Marx.
There can be different idealists it's not definitive it should be a idealisr

D. Marx is not an idealist German philosopher.
Really difficultt i couldn't eleminate i thought it was a direct one hence chose E thinking this was a trap answer

E. Aside from the philosopher Marx, if someone is a German philosopher, then he or she is an idealist
Yes this can be established this is the only thing we can establish
User avatar
VerbalBot
User avatar
Non-Human User
Joined: 01 Oct 2013
Last visit: 04 Jan 2021
Posts: 18,450
Own Kudos:
Posts: 18,450
Kudos: 953
Kudos
Add Kudos
Bookmarks
Bookmark this Post
Hello from the GMAT Club VerbalBot!

Thanks to another GMAT Club member, I have just discovered this valuable topic, yet it had no discussion for over a year. I am now bumping it up - doing my job. I think you may find it valuable (esp those replies with Kudos).

Want to see all other topics I dig out? Follow me (click follow button on profile). You will receive a summary of all topics I bump in your profile area as well as via email.
Moderators:
GMAT Club Verbal Expert
7355 posts
GMAT Club Verbal Expert
235 posts