If a novelist is popular he or she

Question

If a novelist is popular he or she can vividly imagine large numbers of characters, each with a personality and attitudes that are completely different from those of the others and from those of the novelist. Such a writer also will be capable of empathizing with people who have goals completely different from his or her own and so will have some doubts about the genuine value of his or her own desires.

If the statements above are true then each of the following could also be true EXCEPT:

A. Some novelists who can vividly imagine large numbers of characters with attitudes and personalities completely different from those of the others are not popular. 
  
 B. Some novelists are incapable of empathizing with people whose goals are completely different from their own. 
  
 C. Some people who lack the ability to empathize with those who have goals completely different from their own are popular novelists. 
  
 D. No people who have doubts about the value of their own desires are incapable of empathizing with people who have goals that are completely different from their own. 
  
 E. Most writers who have doubts about the value of what they desire are popular novelists.

Su1206 · Answer

GMATNinja   GMATNinja 2  Bunuel   carcass   bb  pls help with reasoning for this

GarvitAgarwal2007 · Answer

Kindly help with the reasoning behind this option

GmatKnightTutor · Answer

The passage talks about some specific abilities that a popular novelist has - one of which is being "capable of empathizing with people who have goals completely different from his or her own". (C) contradicts this by saying there are SOME PEOPLE who ARE POPULAR NOVELISTS "who lack the ability to empathize with those who have goals completely different from their own".

VKG007 · Answer

The question states could be true EXCEPT.. Essentially asking for ALWAYS FALSE. So we need to negate the IF A then B..

Passage: IF Popular then Imagination and Empathy. 
Negation: Popular but no imagation/empathy -> Answer C

nishantswaft · Answer

Read this part of argument "Such a writer also will be capable of empathizing with people who have goals completely different from his or her own" this means a popular novelist will be capable of empathizing i.e it is a must be true condition or we can say that having the ability to empathize is a must be true condition for a popular novelist.

Option C says " Some people who lack the ability to empathize with those who have goals completely different from their own are popular novelists. " 
 It goes completely against our requirement and hence is incorrect.

Feel free to ask if you have any other doubts.

Raman109 · Answer

The Argument’s Premises:
Premise 1: If a novelist is popular, then he or she can vividly imagine many characters, each with personalities and attitudes that are completely different from one another and from the novelist.
Premise 2: Such a novelist is capable of empathizing with people whose goals are completely different from his or her own.
Premise 3: This capacity for empathy leads the novelist to have doubts about the genuine value of his or her own desires.
In summary: Popularity is linked with the ability to create diverse characters, which in turn is linked with empathy, and that empathy leads to self-doubt regarding one’s own desires.

The Question:
Which one of the following could not be true given the above premises?

Analyzing the Answer Choices:
(A) Some novelists who can vividly imagine large numbers of characters with attitudes and personalities completely different from those of the others are not popular.

Analysis: The argument only states what is true for popular novelists; it doesn’t imply that this ability is unique to popular novelists. So, it’s possible that some novelists with that ability are not popular.
Status: Could be true.
(B) Some novelists are incapable of empathizing with people whose goals are completely different from their own.

Analysis: The argument only discusses popular novelists; it doesn’t say that every novelist has this capacity. It’s possible that some novelists lack empathy.
Status: Could be true.
(C) Some people who lack the ability to empathize with those who have goals completely different from their own are popular novelists.

Analysis: This runs contrary to the premises because the argument implies that empathy is a key quality of popular novelists. Yet note the wording: “some people” — if this were true, then at least one popular novelist would lack the required empathy, which contradicts the premises.
Status: Must be false if the premises are taken as universally true for popular novelists.
However, let’s double-check the remaining options before finalizing our choice.

(D) No people who have doubts about the value of their own desires are incapable of empathizing with people who have goals that are completely different from their own.

Analysis: The argument links empathy to self-doubt, so anyone with self-doubt (due to this empathy) must be capable of empathy. This is consistent with the premises.
Status: Could be true.
(E) Most writers who have doubts about the value of what they desire are popular novelists.

Analysis: The argument only specifies that popular novelists (because of their empathy) have self-doubt. It does not claim that self-doubt is unique to or most common among popular novelists. There might be many non-popular writers (or even non-writers) who have doubts about their desires.
Status: This is not supported by the premises and thus could not necessarily be true.
Deciding Between (C) and (E):
(C) implies that a popular novelist might lack empathy, which directly contradicts the premise that popular novelists have the ability to empathize. This makes (C) a strong candidate for being impossible.

(E) states that “most writers who have doubts about the value of what they desire are popular novelists.” The argument does not address the prevalence of self-doubt among non-popular novelists, so (E) could be false or true depending on information not provided. It’s an inference that goes beyond the stated premises.

When the question asks, “each of the following could also be true EXCEPT,” we are looking for the choice that cannot be true if the premises are true.

(C) directly contradicts the chain: if you’re popular, you must be capable of empathy. Therefore, (C) cannot be true.
(E), while not supported by the argument, is a possibility outside of what is explicitly stated; the premises do not rule it out definitively.
Final Answer: (C)
Thus, the statement that “Some people who lack the ability to empathize with those who have goals completely different from their own are popular novelists” is the one that could not be true if the premises are accepted.

VerbalBot · Answer

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If a novelist is popular he or she

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If a novelist is popular he or she

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