Question

Read the following excerpt from Levitt and Dubner’s Freakonomics. There is a tale, “The Ring of Gyges,” that Feldman sometimes tells his economist friends. It comes from Plato’s Republic. A student named Glaucon offered the story in response to a lesson by Socrates—who, like Adam Smith, argued that people are generally good even without enforcement. Glaucon, like Feldman’s economist friends, disagreed. He told of a shepherd named Gyges who stumbled upon a secret cavern with a corpse inside that wore a ring. When Gyges put on the ring, he found that it made him invisible. With no one able to monitor his behavior, Gyges proceeded to do woeful things—seduce the queen, murder the king, and so on. Glaucon’s story posed a moral question: could any man resist the temptation of evil if he knew his acts could not be witnessed? Glaucon seemed to think the answer was no. The excerpt serves as which of the following in relation to the authors’ argument?
A. a claim that most people are moral
B. an example of morality in the workplace
C. a conclusion about morality in the workplace
D. a counterclaim to the idea that most people are moral

Answer 1

Answer: D. a counterclaim to the idea that most people are moral.

Explanation: a counterclaim is a claim made to rebut an idea, in this case that idea is that most people are moral, according to the excerpt this idea was in a lesson by Socrates. The counterclaim was made by a student named Glaucon who, by telling a story from Plato's Republic, expressed his argument about how the humans couldn't resist the temptation of evil if they knew no one would see them.

Answer 2

The correct answer is D. A counterclaim to the idea that most people are moral

Explanation:

A counterclaim refers to an argument or statement that serves to rebut or prove as invalid the main argument made by someone else. This usually implies the counterclaim provides some evidence to demonstrate the main argument or idea of another person is not true and show the one's claim is valid. In the case of the excerpt presented the main argument the author presents is that people are moral and do not need any enforcement to act correctly, which is supported by the author using "The Ring of Gyges" as an example. On the opposite, a student states people is evil if there was no one witnessing their actions and explains this claim with another story. This means the second argument aimed at disproving the idea of most people being moral and showing this statement was not true. Therefore, the second argument serves as a counterclaim of the author's argument because it rebuts it or disproves it.