Read the following passage and answer the item that follows. Your answer to this item should be based on the…
Read the following passage and answer the item that follows. Your answer to this item should be based on the passage only.
Passage:
Nothing can exist in a natural state which can be called good or bad by common assent, since every man who is in natural state consults only his own advantage, and determines what is good or bad according to his own fancy and insofar as he has regard for his own advantage alone, and holds himself responsible to no one save himself by any law; and therefore sin cannot be conceived in a natural state, but only a civil state, which is decreed by common consent what is good or bad, and each one holds himself responsible to the state.
Which one of the following statements best reflects the central idea of the passage given above?
The conceptions of what is right or wrong exist due to the formation of a state.
Unless a ruling authority decides as to what is right or wrong, no man would be morally right.
Man is inherently immoral and selfish in a natural state.
The idea of what is right or wrong is necessary for the survival of human species.
Solution
The passage argues that good or bad by common assent cannot exist in a natural state; sin can be conceived only in a civil state decreed by common consent. So conceptions of right or wrong exist due to the formation of a state. Option (a) is correct. Option (b) overstates 'ruling authority'; (c) and (d) go beyond the passage.