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Distressed by his own personal tragedies, the Roman philosopher Cicero once aske

游客2024-01-12  47
问题 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?
选项 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.
答案 A
解析 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 ones 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.
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