The author uses the word "immediacy" (line 39) most likely in order to express

taylorschmook on February 12, 2020

Only If

On problem 5 of Sufficient and Necessary Conditions, why would you choose C if it says moral AND and intelligent and not moral OR intelligent?

Reply
Create a free account to read and take part in forum discussions.

Already have an account? log in

SamA on February 12, 2020

Hello @taylorschmook,

The stimulus gives us the following conditions:

DFW - - - - - - > M and I

For a democracy to function well, the electorate must be moral and intelligent. The "and" tells us that we need both of these necessary conditions. If just one of them fails, then the sufficient condition also fails. This is why, when we make a contrapositive, the "and" becomes an "or."

not M or not I - - - - - - - -> not DFW

If the electorate is not moral, not intelligent, or both, then the democracy will not function well.

Let's discuss answer choice C.

It is giving us a specific scenario: an electorate that is not moral, but is intelligent.

It doesn't have to say "or" because it is giving us the two characteristics that this hypothetical electorate has.

Based on the stimulus, what would we expect to happen in this case? Remember that a well functioning democracy needs both conditions. We are missing one, so the democracy cannot function well. Answer choice C matches this logic from the stimulus, which makes it the correct answer.