8. The stable functioning of a society depends upon the relatively long-term stability of the goals of its citizens. This is clear from the fact that unless the majority of individuals have a predictable and enduring set of aspirations, it will be impossible for a legislature to craft laws that will augment the satisfaction of the citizenry, and it should be obvious that a society is stable only if its laws tend to increase the happiness of its citizens.
The claim that a society is stable only if its laws tend to increase the happiness of its citizens plays which one of the following roles in the argument?
(A) It is the conclusion of the argument.
(B) It helps to support the conclusion of the argument.
(C) It is a claim that must be refuted if the conclusion is to be established.
(D) It is a consequence of the argument.
(E) It is used to illustrate the general principle that the argument presupposes.
我认为A对，因为题目中“it should be obvious that a society is stable only if its laws tend to increase the happiness of its citizens. ”这句话的意思并没有再前面体现出来，特别是only if，它的推导方向正好与前面相反所以我认为应该是A而不是B。还请各位G友帮我解释一下。谢先了。作者: meghu 时间: 2003-1-21 18:11
这道题的CONCLUSION不是a society is stable only if its laws tend to increase the happiness of its citizens 而是第一句话。本题中提到两个事物
ASPIRATION（=GOAL）--------------------SOCIAL STABILITY
推论的方法是有ASPIRATION，法律才能增加SATISFACTION。有了SATISFACTION（=HAPPINESS）才有STABILITY。因此a society is stable only if its laws tend to increase the happiness of its citizens 起到承上启下的作用。你的明白？
不好意思，没学过逻辑术语，只要你明白就好。作者: genre_wu 时间: 2003-1-21 21:53
第一遍看完还明白，看完你的解释后就不明白了。我的理解是从This is clear from the fact that 可以看出that后面是用某个fact支持第一句话。
不论ONLY IF 还是UNLESS都不应该起什么作用。
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