Geneticist: Ethicists have fears, many of them reasonable, about the

Yes, this is definitely an LSAT-style question, called a "Role of Statement" question, which is unlikely to appear on the GMAT. However, the kind of thinking we needed to do in order to answer it is useful for advanced CR questions, especially Bolded Statement questions.

Clones must be raised and educated, a long-term process that could never produce adults identical to the original in terms of outlook, personality, or goals. More realistic is the possibility that wealthy individuals might use clones as living “organ banks.”

The argument states that the clones may be misused in one manner (as organ bank)..before coming to this conclusion he elaborate the fear of enthicists & goes on & describes one of them(fear) of wealthy guy creating army of duplicates..Thus if the clones does not have personality of the owner then they can be used as a meager "organ bank"

Nice question. The argument says Ethicists have reasonable fear regarding cloning but the exaggerated fear as seen in “horror movie” is unrealistic. Then bold part gives a reason why. You can also eliminate B and D because bold part is not evidence but a thought that dismisses one fear not many, so A is also wrong. C is wrong because it is just opposite of what argument is saying so we are left with E.

E it is.

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Pre-thinking:

The Claim: Clones must be raised and educated, a long-term process that could never produce adults identical to the original in terms of outlook, personality, or goals.

Since we are asked about the "role" that the claim plays, identification of additional context around the claim would help. The stimulus states that ethicists have several reasonable fears about the cloning of human beings. This sentence is followed by the contrasting transitionary word "but", indicating that the passage is going to make a U-turn of sorts ie; while earlier the passage talks about some legitimate fears of ethicists, it is probable that going forward, the passage will talk about things that are not legitimate fears. Thereafter, one specific "fear" is identified, and the "claim" stated in the question acts as a possible reason for the said "fear" being unreasonable/not likely to come true.

Given the above, let us examine the options:

(A) It is a reason for dismissing the various fears raised by ethicists regarding the cloning of human beings. The claim is used to oppose the "fear" that a "wealthy person" could create "an army of exact duplicates". Thus it only opposes one specific "fear" regarding cloning of human beings and does not dismiss "various fears fears raised by ethicists". Incorrect.

(B) It is evidence that genetic clones will never be produced successfully. The passage states "More realistic is the possibility that wealthy individuals might use clones as living “organ banks.” Thus, the passage does believe that human genetic clones may be produced successfully. Additionally, the "claim" of different personalities of clones does not impact this possibility in any way. Incorrect.

(C) It illustrates the claim that only wealthy people would be able to have genetic duplicates made of themselves. This option implies that the passage sends the message that none other than wealthy people would be able to have genetic duplicates of themselves. No such claim is made in the passage. Incorrect.

(D) It is evidence for the claim that wealthy people might use genetic duplicates of themselves as sources of compatible organs for transplantation. While the passage does state that "wealthy individuals might use clones as living “organ banks.”", this is presented as alternate use of clones (as opposed to having an "army of exact duplicates") and not as a separate claim for which the lack of identical personalities is evidence. Incorrect.

(E) It is a reason for discounting one possible fear concerning the cloning of human beings Correct. Consistent with our pre-thinking.

Hope this helps.

Geneticist: Ethicists have fears, many of them reasonable, about the prospect of cloning human beings, that is, producing exact genetic duplicates. But the horror-movie image of a wealthy person creating an army of exact duplicates is completely unrealistic. Clones must be raised and educated, a long-term process that could never produce adults identical to the original in terms of outlook, personality, or goals. More realistic is the possibility that wealthy individuals might use clones as living “organ banks.”

The claim that cloning will not produce adults with identical personalities plays which one of the following roles in the geneticist’s argument?

(A) It is a reason for dismissing the various fears raised by ethicists regarding the cloning of human beings. - WRONG. Instigating but the absoluteness of this choice must raise eyebrows.

(B) It is evidence that genetic clones will never be produced successfully. - WRONG. Irrelevant altogether.

(C) It illustrates the claim that only wealthy people would be able to have genetic duplicates made of themselves. - WRONG. Not 'only wealthy people'. It misses the larger picture actually.

(D) It is evidence for the claim that wealthy people might use genetic duplicates of themselves as sources of compatible organs for transplantation. - WRONG. Horror interpretation.

(E) It is a reason for discounting one possible fear concerning the cloning of human beings - CORRECT.

Only A and E are the contenders. E deals with the passage nicely by putting a more sober aspect of the passage claim, unless one misunderstands the 'discounting' aspect.

Answer E.

Geneticist: Ethicists have fears, many of them reasonable, about the prospect of cloning human beings, that is, producing exact genetic duplicates. But the horror-movie image of a wealthy person creating an army of exact duplicates is completely unrealistic. Clones must be raised and educated, a long-term process that could never produce adults identical to the original in terms of outlook, personality, or goals. More realistic is the possibility that wealthy individuals might use clones as living “organ banks.”

The claim that cloning will not produce adults with identical personalities plays which one of the following roles in the geneticist’s argument?


(A) It is a reason for dismissing the various fears raised by ethicists regarding the cloning of human beings.
It is tempting but not correct. Since, author already mentions "many of them reasonable". So we can't really use this claim to dismiss "various fears". Incorrect

(B) It is evidence that genetic clones will never be produced successfully.
It's not an evidence. Evidence usually have hints like "study", "proof", "report", etc. It sounds like a reasoning from author's POV.

(C) It illustrates the claim that only wealthy people would be able to have genetic duplicates made of themselves.
Clearly Incorrect

(D) It is evidence for the claim that wealthy people might use genetic duplicates of themselves as sources of compatible organs for transplantation.
Again not an evidence.

(E) It is a reason for discounting one possible fear concerning the cloning of human beings
Note the line "one possible fear". Makes all sense since that one possible fear is mentioned too in the form of horror movie image. Correct