Philosopher: People are not intellectually well suited to live in large bureaucratic societies. Therefore, people...

shunhe on January 7, 2021

Hi @Anthony-Resendes,

Thanks for the question! So we’re looking for a flaw in the philosopher’s argument that has to do with something the argument assumes. The argument says that people aren’t intellectually well suited to live in large bureaucratic societies. Therefore, people can find happiness, if at all, only in smaller political units. There’s a couple of things that the author assumes right off the bat, since there are a lot of term shifts here. First, that living somewhere you’re intellectually well suited to live has something to do with happiness. Second, that people are intellectually well suited to live in smaller political units such as villages. Third, that large bureaucratic societies don’t happen in smaller political units such as villages.

(A) gets at the first of these assumptions, and thus is the correct answer.

(C) says that the author assumes that all societies that are plagued by excessive bureaucracy are large, but that’s not true. There could be medium-sized societies with excessive bureaucracy, and that would be perfectly compatible with the stimulus.

Hope this helps! Feel free to ask any other questions that you might have.