Hi can anyone help explain the correct answer choice? The question is as follows:
If violations of any of a society's explicit rules routinely go unpunished, then that society's people will be left without moral guidance. Because people who lack moral guidance will act in many different ways, chaos results. Thus, a society ought never to allow any of its explicit rules to be broken with impunity.
The reasoning in the argument is most vulnerable to criticism on the grounds that the argument:
A- takes for granted that a society will avoid chaos as long as none of its explicit rules are routinely violated with impunity
B- fails to consider that the violated rules might have been made to prevent problems that would not arise even if the rules were removed
C- infers, from the claim that the violation of some particular rules will lead to chaos, that the violation of any rule will lead to chaos
D- confuses the routine nonpunishment of violations of a rule with sometimes not punishing violations of the rule
E- takes for granted that all of society's explicit rules result in equally serious consequences when broken
Initially I chose A. I realize that the author takes a big leap from "routinely" to "never," but it's still not crystal clear to me as to why D is correct. I'd appreciate any input I can get. Thanks!
Discussion
Resources
