For democracy to survive, it is imperative that the average citizen be

Question

For democracy to survive, it is imperative that the average citizen be able to develop informed opinions about important policy issues. In today's society, this means that citizens must be able to develop informed opinions on many scientific subjects, from ecosystems to defence system. Yet, as scientific knowledge advances, the average citizen is increasingly unable to absorb enough information to develop informed opinions on many important issues.

Of the following, which one follows logically from the passage?

(A) Scientists have a duty to educate the public.

(B) The survival of democracy is threatened by the advance of scientific knowledge.

(C) Every citizen has a duty to and can become scientifically literate.

(D) The most effective democracy is one that is the most scientifically unsophisticated.

(E) Democracy will survive if there are at least some citizens who are capable of developing informed opinions on important scientific issues.

adityadon · Accepted Answer

(A) Scientists have a duty to educate the public. -  Totally irrelevant

(B) The survival of democracy is threatened by the advance of scientific knowledge. -  this is correct answer. Premise starts with "for democracy to survive ..." According to premise , average person should be able to form opinion about important issues but as complexity of those issue increases person is unable to grasp and make opinion. Hence , as the scientific knowldege advances , person wont be able to make his opinion and this threatnes the survival of democracy.

(C) Every citizen has a duty to and can become scientifically literate. -  Eliminate , extreme condition , we are not speaking about duty here. 
(D) The most effective democracy is one that is the most scientifically unsophisticated. -  opposite to premise  
(E) Democracy will survive if there are at least some citizens who are capable of developing informed opinions on important scientific issues. -  we are not told about quantity of persons who should be able to form opinion. so it could be atleast/most/every.

OptimusPrepJanielle · Answer

For democracy to survive, it is imperative that the average citizen be able to develop informed opinions about important policy issues. In today's society, this means that citizens must be able to develop informed opinions on many scientific subjects, from ecosystems to defence system. Yet, as scientific knowledge advances, the average citizen is increasingly unable to absorb enough information to develop informed opinions on many important issues.

Of the following, which one follows logically from the passage?

(A) Scientists have a duty to educate the public.
 cannot be supported 
 (B) The survival of democracy is threatened by the advance of scientific knowledge.
   Supported by the last sentence, "..as scientific knowledge advances..." 
(C) Every citizen has a duty to and can become scientifically literate.
 The text says that the average citizen (not every citizen) can. 
(D) The most effective democracy is one that is the most scientifically unsophisticated.
 cannot be supported 
(E) Democracy will survive if there are at least some citizens who are capable of developing informed opinions on important scientific issues.  cannot be supported

shubham2312 · Answer

can someone please explain why B?
because I feel that option is just too much extreme
and why not E?

OptimusPrepJanielle · Answer

Informed choices are essential for democracy. If the public cannot keep up with scientific advances they can't make informed choices, and therefore democracy is not possible, hence it is "threatened."

E isn't correct because the text doesn't specify how many citizens should keep up. It only says the average citizen must be able to make informed decisions.

law258 · Answer

(A) Scientists have a duty to educate the public. --> eliminate. Argument is not pointing to scientists to educate people; they need to educate themselves.

(B) The survival of democracy is threatened by the advance of scientific knowledge. --> Correct by POE

(C) Every citizen has a duty to and can become scientifically literate. --> argument does not state that citizens have a "duty" to do anything; it's if we wish to maintain democracy, citizen should be versed in scientific topics

(D) The most effective democracy is one that is the most scientifically unsophisticated. --> eliminate right away

(E) Democracy will survive if there are at least some citizens who are capable of developing informed opinions on important scientific issues. --> SOME is problematic. Is some the average citizen? No. We can't make that assumption. The argument is for the average person. There will always be a part of the population that will be more interested in scientific discovery, etc, but that doesn't mean that the entire population will understand it.

ajdse22 · Answer

For democracy to survive, it is imperative that the average citizen be able to develop informed opinions about important policy issues. In today's society, this means that citizens must be able to develop informed opinions on many scientific subjects, from ecosystems to defence system. Yet, as scientific knowledge advances, the average citizen is increasingly unable to absorb enough information to develop informed opinions on many important issues.

The question is saying that if Democracy survives, then the average citizen must be able to have informed opinions on science related topics. This implies that unless average citizen is able to have informed opinion, democracy will not survive. Although this rather sounds cold logic, the sentence is trying to imply that. This is because it uses the word 'Imperative', which means of vital importance.

Of the following, which one follows logically from the passage?

(A) Scientists have a duty to educate the public. Too broad and unrelated.

(B) The survival of democracy is threatened by the advance of scientific knowledge.

(C) Every citizen has a duty to and can become scientifically literate. No where the statement is saying Citizens must do X

(D) The most effective democracy is one that is the most scientifically unsophisticated There isnt any concept of effective democracy that the question prompt discusses

(E) Democracy will survive if there are at least some citizens who are capable of developing informed opinions on important scientific issues.

This sounds like a correct answer. BUT it says if at least some citizens--does this represent average? Event if that may be true the statement does not say that just because average citizen is informed Democracy will survive. The reverse may or may not be true.

All of this leads to only one choice remaining. Choice B says that advancement is Science will threaten democracy. This appears to fit the underlying logic. So this should be the answer

sayan640 · Answer

KarishmaB   MartyMurray  Kindly share your thoughts for option B and E . The word "At least some " cant be used for "Average number" . Is this the reasoning ?

KarishmaB · Answer

Necessary for Democracy -> Average citizen must have informed opinions on many scientific subjects.
But with scientific advances, the average citizen is increasingly unable to develop informed opinions.

What can we conlcude? That with scientific advances, democracy is being threatened. 
Hence (B) is correct.

(E) Democracy will survive if there are at least some citizens who are capable of developing informed opinions on important scientific issues.

"At least some citizens' are not equivalent to "average citizens". At least some could be the scientists and researchers but they do not represent "average citizens". They represent a particular group only. 
We need average citizens to be able to develop informed opinions for democracy. 
Hence (E) is not correct.

Answer (B)

agrasan · Answer

Hi  KarishmaB

Can we also reject option E on the basis of reasoning that there can be other necessary conditions required for the survival of democracy?
We are only given in the argument that X  (informed opinions)  is necessary for Y  (survival of democracy)  but there can be Z, A, etc. also be required for Y.

KarishmaB · Answer

Fair enough. The argument does not give us sufficiency and only talks about what is necessary. "Democracy will survive if there ..." doesn't work.

For democracy to survive, it is imperative that the average citizen be

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For democracy to survive, it is imperative that the average citizen be

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