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Sridevi31
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The conclusion of the argument is that the "extreme view that society could flourish in a condition of anarchy" "deserves no further attention." Why? The argument first defines anarchy as "the absence of government." Then, the author points to the fact that the theorist's holding this "extreme view" have ignored "the fundamental principle of social philosophy - that an acceptable philosophy must promote peace and order." Thus, a social philosophy that countenances (i.e. that allows) chaos, i.e., anarchy, accordingly deserves no further attention. So in this second instance, the author has defined anarchy as a social philosophy that countenances chaos, but we have been given no information as to why or how anarchy countenances chaos.

So answer choice (A) is correct because the meaning of a key term, i.e. anarchy, shifts "illicitly during the course of the argument" from just "the absence of government" to "a social philosophy that countenances chaos."
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Bowers: A few theorists hold the extreme view that society could flourish in a condition of anarchy, the absence of government. Some of these theorists have even produced interesting arguments to support that position. One writer, for example, contends that anarchy is laissez-faire capitalism taken to its logical extreme. But these theorists’ views ignore the fundamental principle of social philosophy—that an acceptable social philosophy must promote peace and order. Any social philosophy that countenances chaos, i.e., anarchy, accordingly deserves no further attention.

The reasoning in Bowers’s argument is most vulnerable to criticism on the grounds that

(A) the meaning of a key term shifts illicitly during the course of the argument
(B) the argument fails to show that laissez-faire capitalism deserves to be rejected as a social philosophy
(C) the truth or falsity of a view is not determined by the number of people who accept it as true
(D) the argument presumes, without providing justification, that any peaceful society will flourish
(E) it is unreasonable to reject a view merely because it can be described as extreme

Please search before posting: bowers-a-few-theorists-hold-the-extreme-view-that-society-could-flour-288856.html#p2227579 Thank you!

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