- [Instructor] In the passage,
the author anticipates which of the following objections
to criticizing the ethics of free markets?
Okay, so we're looking at two questions at once here
because the first one is an analyzing arguments question
but the second one is a citing textual evidence question.
Right? It says, which choice provides the best evidence
for the answer to the previous question?
And when I see that phrasing, you know,
which choice provides evidence
for the previous question's answer,
that gives me a signal that I can do two at once.
I can use the answer to three
to help me find the answer to two.
So my plan for this question is I'm going to rip rap.
I'm going to rephrase if possible
and then go back to the text,
read around and predict.
But I'm going to read around and predict
using these four different line citations
to help narrow down my choices.
So, okay.
Question two.
Let's let's rephrase this first
the R in rip in the passage, the author anticipates
which of the following objections
to criticizing the ethics of free markets?
That feels a little complicated to me.
Let me break that down and rephrase it.
So we've got an objection
to criticizing the ethics of free markets.
So someone is saying free markets are unethical
and someone else is objecting
to the idea that free markets are unethical.
So, and the author is ready for it.
The author has anticipated an objection.
My interpretation of this question
is how does the author argue
that free markets are ethical?
And I'm going to phrase that
as free markets are good, actually.
So that's my rephrasing.
And as I go through the choices,
the line citation set up in question three,
I'm going to test those choices
against this rephrasing.
Free markets are good, actually.
And I'm going to test that
against first lines four through five.
So some to ethical.
Here's line four.
Some argue that because the free markets
allow for personal choice, they are already ethical.
Okay.
That kind of feels like it does say free markets are good.
Actually, I'm going to put a little star here.
This might be our answer.
And later we'll expose the choices
for question two and we'll test against them.
But meanwhile, let's return to the passage
and see if the other choices match
our free markets are good, actually,
rephrasing even better.
So lines seven through nine
followed by 18 to 19.
Okay. Here's line seven.
But before we can label any market outcome
as a moral or sneer at economists
who try to put a price on being ethical,
we need to be clear on what we are talking about.
Okay? So this is making a case
for creating definitions
about what ethics are
rather than saying X is moral or Y is immoral.
So I'm going to say that that doesn't match
free markets are good, actually.
What's the next one?
18 to 19, Smith, to outcome.
Here we are, here's line 18.
Smith justifies selfish behavior by the outcome.
That has nothing to do with free markets.
I'm going to cross off C,
I'm going to cross off B.
Finally choice D lines 43 to 45, when to way.
There's line 40, 41, 42, 43.
When to way, here we go.
When a finance official refuses to devalue a currency
because they have promised not to,
they are defining ethics this way.
This does not sound like it has anything to do
with free markets or objections to them.
So I'm going to cross off D.
So now I'm pretty sure we have
our answer for three
because that's the only thing that had anything to do
with criticizing the ethics of free markets.
So let's expose the choices.
What have we got here?
A, Smith's association of free markets
with ethical behaviors still applies today.
Okay, I'm going to cross that off
because the line citation we got
has nothing to do with Adam Smith.
B, free markets are the best way to generate high profits,
so ethics are a secondary consideration.
This is not an argument that was made in the passage.
I'm just going to cross it off.
C, free markets are ethical
because they are made possible by devalued currency.
It so happens that this idea of devalued currency
does appear in the passage,
and it appears in the line reference included
in choice D in the second question
but the reference to devalued currency has nothing to do
with free markets being good, actually.
So we can cross it off.
Finally, D, free markets are ethical
because they enable individuals to make choices,
and that feels right to me.
Let's return to the citation one more time.
Some argue that because free markets
allow for personal choice, they are already ethical.
Okay. So free markets are ethical
because they enable individuals to make choices.
That's pretty much exactly what's being said.
So let's step back and talk about strategy again.
Here's what I did.
So first I rephrase this kind of complicated question stem
and turned it into just a quick little slug line.
Free markets equals good, actually.
And then I took my rephrasing and I kind of used it
as a prediction to test against the choices
in question three.
I was looking for a choice that defended
free markets as good.
And once I found that,
I knew it would be short work to return to question two,
expose the choices and find something
that matched its own evidence.
Because what can happen on the test is you will see things
like choice C
where it brings up devalued currency, right?
Which is something that was indeed in the passage,
but has no bearing on this particular question.
What I like about this strategy is it makes me feel
confident about both of these answers
because they both feed into each other.
And the feelings of confidence and of decisiveness
are two of the most powerful tools
you can bring with you on test day.