Distressed by his own personal tragedies, the Roman philosopher Cicero

Question

Distressed by his own personal tragedies, the Roman philosopher Cicero once asked himself whether a wise person should try to achieve the Stoic ideal of complete emotionlessness. Cicero reasoned that, however desirable the goal may be, a wise person could never attain it, since emotions are not simply irrational urges. They are, rather, a product of one's estimate of the goodness and badness of the events, people, and actions one witnesses.

Which of the following is an assumption required by Cicero's reasoning?

A. Wise people inevitably evaluate at least some of the things they observe.
B. Irrationality makes evaluation of what one observes impossible.
C. Wisdom precludes attempting to attain what one cannot.
D. If evaluations are based only on reason, then they are inaccurate.
E. A wise person will not evaluate what cannot be directly observed.

CR67370.01

GMATIntensive · Accepted Answer

The Story     
 Distressed by his own personal tragedies, the Roman philosopher Cicero once asked himself whether a wise person should try to achieve the Stoic ideal of complete emotionlessness.  - C was distressed by his personal tragedies. Once, while distressed, C wondered should a wise person try to achieve complete emotionlessness.

Cicero reasoned that, however desirable the goal may be, a wise person could never attain it, since emotions are not simply irrational urges.  - After posing the question to himself, he went on to claim that a wise person could never attain complete emotionlessness. How come? Since emotions are more than just irrational urges. (What else are they? We’ll probably find out in the next statement.)

They are, rather, a product of one’s estimate of the goodness and badness of the events, people, and actions one witnesses.   - Emotions are a result of a person’s judgment of various things the person witnesses.
(For now, to help with understanding, we have not considered the nuances of “estimate of the goodness and badness of the events, people, and actions one witnesses”. We’re simply treating this phrase to roughly mean ‘judgment’. If anything in the question or answer choices needs us to, we’ll focus again on the specific aspects of this phrase.)

Gist:    Since emotions are a product of a person’s judgments (support) ,   a wise person could never become completely emotionless(conclusion)  . In other words, since emotions are a product of judgments, a wise person will always have emotions.

The Gap     
There’s a clear jump in the argument. So what if emotions are a result of judgments? What does that have to do with a wise person’s ability to become emotionless? The author claims a wise person cannot become emotionless. Why not? Since emotions come from judgments. What if a wise person did not make judgments? Couldn’t he then become emotionless?

Also, what if the judgments do not lead to emotions? The passage indicates that all emotions come from judgments. However, the passage does not indicate that all judgments lead to emotions.

The Goal     
The author assumes that a wise person will for sure make judgments.

Since emotions are born from judgments (and all wise people make emotions-producing judgments) a wise person cannot become emotionless.

The idea in brackets is an assumption we have been able to come up with. Needless to say, there could be more.

The Evaluation     
 A. Wise people inevitably evaluate at least some of the things they observe. 
  Correct  . This is in line with the assumption we thought of above. Notice the wording: “evaluate at least some of the things”. This completely fits. For the argument above, this option is necessary.

Let’s consider the negation of this option. What if wise people do not necessarily judge (“evaluate at least some of the things they observe”)? Could C now make the argument that since emotions are a product of judgments, a wise person could never become completely emotionless? He couldn’t.

What if the option were changed to:

Wise people inevitably evaluate most things they observe. 
 Wise people inevitably evaluate all things they observe.

Is either of these an assumption required by C’s reasoning?

B. Irrationality makes evaluation of what one observes impossible. 
  Incorrect  . Irrationality makes evaluation impossible. While we can possibly make a logical link that wise people are generally not irrational, the behavior of irrational people does not impact the argument. An assumption being made about wise people is: wise people judge. However, it is not necessary that ‘irrational people cannot judge what they observe’ for the argument to hold.

C. Wisdom precludes attempting to attain what one cannot. 
  Incorrect  . The option says that wisdom prevents humans from trying to attain things that they cannot. In other words, wise people do not try to attain what they cannot. The conclusion is that a wise person could not attain emotionlessness. Whether a wise person tries and still does not attain, or does not even try and thus does not attain, the argument holds.

D. If evaluations are based only on reason, then they are inaccurate. 
  Incorrect  . The argument is that since emotions are derived from evaluations, a wise person cannot become emotionless. What does the ‘accuracy’ of these evaluations have to do with the argument? Nothing. On top, is it necessary for a certain subset of judgments to be inaccurate for the argument to hold? Not at all.

E. A wise person will not evaluate what cannot be directly observed. 
  Incorrect  . Whether a wise person evaluates or not what cannot be directly observed is irrelevant to the argument. Per the argument, emotions are a result of an evaluation of what one observes. Now, whether a wise person evaluates something beyond what can be observed, i.e. what cannot be observed, has no impact on the argument.

If you have any doubts regarding any part of this solution, please feel free to ask.

dcummins · Answer

The argument is that a  wise person  can never attain the stoic ideal of complete emotionlessness.

This is supported by the facts:
- emotions are not irrational urges
- emotions are products of the estimates of goodness/badness one observes in X,Y,Z

The gap in logic is how emotions/ rational urges tie into a wise person.

A is correct because it must be true that wise people evaluate (for and against comparison) at least some of the stuff they observe in order to form an emotion, since emotions are products of observations.

B - is incorrect - it doesn't support the reasoning it simply goes against a premise - that emotions are not irrational and ares observed

C - No. This attempts to tie the notion of a "wise person" to the desire of the goal to be stoic, but we are trying to reconcile the logic behind why a wise person can't obtain stoicism, not that being wise precludes attaining EVERYTHING that one currently CANNOT

D- incorrect - we can't support the gap in reason and accuracy of evaluations, we know that evaluations are made by wise people and that evaluations form emotions, but we don't know that evaluations based on reason are inaccurate

E - we don't know this. We know that a wise person WILL evaluate what can be directly observed. Negating this strengthens the conclusion whereas negating A weakens the conclusion

ArtVandaley · Answer

Only A plugs in the gap between the following statements.

COnclusion = a wise person could never attain it,

since emotions are not simply irrational urges. They are, rather, a product of one's estimate of the goodness and badness of the events, people, and actions one witnesses.

When we insert A in the mix, we can say that wise people always estimate the goodness of things. THis leads to the conclusion that a wise person could never attain it

gmatt1476 · Answer

Official Explanation

Argument Construction

The question asks us to identify an assumption required by Cicero's reasoning.

Cicero reasoned that a wise person could never attain the goal of complete emotionlessness, because emotions are not merely irrational urges but a product of one's estimate of the goodness and badness of events, people, and actions one witnesses.

Why would Cicero have thought that this is a good reason to believe that a wise person could never be completely emotionless? He must have thought that wise people cannot completely avoid making evaluations of the goodness and badness of at least some of the events, people, and actions they witness. If he thought they could completely avoid making such evaluations, the reason he gave for his conclusion would not have supported it.

A. Correct. As indicated above, Cicero's argument requires that wise people evaluate at least some of the things that they observe.

B. Cicero's argument does not require this assumption. It makes sense to think that wise people would not be irrational. However, this assumption suggests that it is possible to avoid evaluations of what one observes, which is not helpful to Cicero's reasoning.

C. If Cicero's conclusion is true, then this assumption helps support the claim that wise people should not attempt to attain the goal of complete emotionlessness. But the question does not ask you to identify an assumption that would allow you to infer that wise people should not attempt to attain that goal. Instead, the question asks you to identify an assumption that is required to infer that wise people cannot attain that goal. Whether you should try to do something is a different issue from whether you can do something.

D. Cicero's argument is not about the accuracy of one's evaluations; rather, it assumes that wise people will inevitably make such evaluations.

E. Cicero's argument is based on a premise about evaluations of the observed, not about evaluations of what is impossible to observe.

The correct answer is A.

Pritishd · Answer

Very interesting question!

Below is the train of content in the passage:
1. Wise people  -->  Witness things  -->  Estimate those things  -->  Results into emotions
2. The author concludes that hence wise people   CANNOT   achieve a state of being emotionless

There are multiple assumptions. A 'no' to any of the below breaks the link in the train of content
1. Wise people witness the people, events and actions happening around
2. Wise people estimate the events they witness
3. Estimating events leads to emotions

The correct answer will repeat one of the above points. And looking at the answer options, we see that A repeats the point 2 from the list above.

Ans.  A

gmatassassin88 · Answer

AjiteshArun   AnthonyRitz   VeritasKarishma   ChiranjeevSingh

i went through the explanation in the thread & realized my understanding of the passage was different from others.Because i find both the comprehensions to be logical i am unable to discard what i comprehended.

Please help in identifying where i made a mistake in comprehending.

1. Cicerio, who is distressed by his own tragedies, questioned/asked himself: Whether a wise person should achieve complete emotionless.
2.  Cicero reasoned that, however desirable the goal may be, a wise person could never attain it, since emotions are not simply irrational urges
 : Here by stating 'Reasoned'- author present the reason as to why Cicerio thought why A wise men need be emotionless

Ciserio Reasoned Because: 1) He was distress & 2) Attaining Goal is impossible however desirable it may be.- So link i thought- Ciserio was distress as he could not achieve certain goal that in turn could not be achieve because of Emotions & therefore he asked whether one should achieve complete emotionless.

Further author states  Why  Emotions are an issue to achieve Goal:  emotions are not simply irrational urges. They are, rather, a product of one's estimate of the goodness and badness of the events, people, and actions one witnesses. .

In a summary: Because emotions are issue for some reasons -> Ciserio could not achieve goal -> therefore he is distress -> So he though of questioning to achieve complete emotionless.

Whereas i found experts have presented some different comprehension, which i believe also make sense.

KarishmaB · Answer

Distressed by his own personal tragedies, the Roman philosopher Cicero once asked himself whether a wise person should try to achieve the Stoic ideal of complete emotionlessness. 
 
Cicero was distressed. He asked himself - Should a wise person try to achieve emotionlessness?

Cicero reasoned that, however desirable the goal may be, a wise person could never attain it, since emotions are not simply irrational urges.

Cicero reasoned (explained to himself) that emotionlessness cannot be attained because emotions are not simply irrational urges.

They are, rather, a product of one's estimate of the goodness and badness of the events, people, and actions one witnesses.
 
That they are a product of one's estimate of goodness/badness of what one sees.

Since emotions are a product of one's estimate of goodness/badness of what one sees, Cicero reasons that a wise person cannot be emotionless. This reasoning is assuming that a wise person sometimes does estimate goodness/badness of what he sees.

Assumption?
A. Wise people inevitably evaluate at least some of the things they observe.

Correct.

krittapat · Answer

GMATNinja   VeritasKarishma   egmat   MartyTargetTestPrep   VeritasPrepBrian   ChrisLele   GMATGuruNY   KyleWiddison   CrackVerbalGMAT   DmitryFarber   VeritasPrepHailey

According to the previous reply by  VeritasKarishma  , I do understand what the argument is saying and why choice A is a correct answer.
However, I would like you to help explain why the rest choices are wrong.
Appreciate your help.

Basshead · Answer

The conclusion is that  a wise person can never attain complete emotionlessness since emotions are not simply irrational urges.

The stimulus then provides us with more context: "They are, rather, a product of one's estimate of the goodness and badness of the events, people, and actions one witnesses."

The gist is that a wise person   can't achieve complete emotionlessness   because   emotions are a produce of one's estimate of the goodness and badness of the events, people, and actions one witnesses

For this to be true, wise people  need  to judge some of the events they observe. This is exactly what A says.

To confirm our reasoning, we can try negating the statement:

Wise people inevitably evaluate  at least some   none  of the things they observe.

Negating choice A  weakens  the conclusion. As a result, choice A is the answer.

IN2MBB2PE · Answer

Hey  Basshead  - Can you please show me how to properly negate each of the statements? I think I made mistake negating the answer choices and thus, ended up with wrong answer.

For example - I was not sure whether when I negate a statement do I negate every word or just one?

E. A wise person will not evaluate what cannot be directly observed

Negate - A wise person will evaluate what can be directly observed - is this correct?

Thanks.

Hoozan · Answer

GMATIntensive

If (B) were  irrationality and the ability to evaluate what one observes cannot be present at the same time in a person , would it be a possible correct answer choice?

PeachSnapple1 · Answer

It is easy to answer this question if one can see the gist of it through all the complex language.
The gist: wise person cannot attain emotionlessness, meaning wise person will always have at least some emotion. In the prompt, emotion is defined as "estimate of the goodness and badness of the events, people, and actions one witnesses". Therefore, the logic flows like this: because wise person have to have emotion; therefore, these wise person have to "estimate of the goodness and badness of the events, people, and actions one witnesses". Answer A clearly paraphrases this logic beautifully "Wise people inevitably evaluate at least some of the things they observe".

ArnauG · Answer

The assumption required by Cicero's reasoning is:

A. Wise people inevitably evaluate at least some of the things they observe.

Cicero argues that emotions are a product of one's evaluations of the goodness and badness of the events, people, and actions one witnesses. For his reasoning to hold, it must be assumed that wise people engage in the process of evaluation when observing things. If wise people do not evaluate what they observe, then Cicero's argument about the impossibility of attaining complete emotionlessness based on evaluations would not hold.

steckcha · Answer

What's the soul of this deeply philosophical question?

Cicero was so depressed that he asked himself whether a wise person should try to be emotionless. Cicero said that the goal of being emotionless is desirable but not achievable because emotions are rational things in the end. 
Basically, emotions are based on a person's estimate, observation, analysis, evaluation, or examination of the positives and the negatives of his or her life experiences.

Now, what's the philosopher assuming here?
He's assuming that wise people analyze or contemplate some of the things they observe. 
And a person's emotions are based on a person's analysis of his or her experiences of life - the good times as well the bad times. 
A captures the soul of the question beautifully. Keep it.

B is gone because emotions are rational things based on a person's life experience. Whether observing is possible or impossible without rationality is out of the scope of this argument.

C is eliminated because wisdom is not the heart of this argument; emotions are rational things is the heart of this argument.

D is eliminated because the accuracy of evaluations is out of scope. The important point is that evaluations of life experiences give birth to emotions, which are rational things in the end.

E is not the answer because whether a person will evaluate or will not evaluate directly observable things is irrelevant. Wise people evaluate obscured things, too.

Thus, A is the assumption made by the deep thinker Cicero.

I hope I'm crystal-clear 🙏

Posted from my mobile device

Gauri09 · Answer

If as stated, one of the option was "Wise people inevitably evaluate most things they observe.", then if we assume this to be true, it will break the conclusion because here we are talking about not achieving complete stoicness, maybe about 90%. But if we are evaluationg most of the things means we are having emotions about most of the things, which breaks the conclusion of achieving near complete stoicness. Is my understanding right?

Blackcrow1972 · Answer

The argument hinges on Cicero’s reasoning that emotions are a result of evaluations (i.e., judgments about the goodness or badness of things). Cicero concludes that a wise person cannot completely avoid emotions because they are a natural product of making evaluations. For this reasoning to hold, it must be true that wise people inevitably make evaluations—this is the assumption required for the argument to work.

Kavicogsci · Answer

The three strategy approach here is
Negation +
Filling a gap for conclusion to be true +
Necessary for the argument

Gap:
1)Emotions are not simply irrational urges, rather, a product of one's estimate of the goodness and badness of the events, people, and actions one witnesses. 
2)________________
3)A wise person could never attain the stoic ideal of complete emotionlessness

How did we jump from 1 to 3?
Therefore we need something in gap (2) that talks something about wise people because so far wise people are not mentioned and we have gone on to make a conclusion about them.

Pls see option analysis

egmat · Answer

Let me walk you through how to tackle this systematically.

Step 1: Identify Cicero's Main Conclusion 
Cicero concludes that "a wise person could never attain complete emotionlessness." That's what we need to support.

Step 2: Understand His Reasoning  
His logic is: emotions aren't just irrational urges → they come from our evaluations of good/bad things → therefore wise people can't eliminate emotions completely.

Step 3: Find the Logical Gap 
Here's where you need to think critically: Cicero says emotions come from evaluations, but why does this mean wise people  can't  eliminate emotions? There's a missing piece here.

The gap is this: What if wise people simply stopped making evaluations about things? Then they could potentially eliminate emotions, right?

Step 4: Bridge the Gap 
For Cicero's argument to work, we need to assume that wise people will  continue  to make evaluations. They can't just turn off their judgment about the world around them.

Looking at the answer choices, (A) states exactly this: "Wise people inevitably evaluate at least some of the things they observe."

This assumption is  required  because without it, you could argue that wise people might simply stop evaluating things, which would break Cicero's entire logical chain.

The Answer: A

Notice how the other choices either address the wrong aspect of the argument (like C, which is about attempting vs. achieving) or introduce irrelevant concepts (like B, which brings up irrationality in a way that doesn't connect to the core reasoning).

For the complete framework on how to systematically identify assumptions in CR questions, including the "negation test" technique and common assumption patterns that appear across different Official Questions, you can check out the  step-by-step solution on Neuron by e-GMAT . You can also explore other GMAT official questions with detailed solutions on Neuron for structured practice  here .

nandini14 · Answer

I did understand why other options dont make sense but what is it about A directly stating because "inevitably" does not seem right to me either

Distressed by his own personal tragedies, the Roman philosopher Cicero

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GMAT Critical Reasoning (CR) Questions

Distressed by his own personal tragedies, the Roman philosopher Cicero

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