Globalization and the Information Age: Postmodernism into the Twenty-First Century — Test
Question 21 • TPS EdX English Language Arts 11
Read the excerpt from Levitt and Dubner’s Freakonomics . If morality represents the way we would like the world to work and economics represents how it actually does work, then the story of Feldman’s bagel business lies at the very intersection of morality and economics. Yes, a lot of people steal from him, but the vast majority, even though no is watching over them, do not. This outcome may surprise some people—including Feldman’s economist friends, who counseled him twenty years ago that his honor-system scheme would never work. But it would not have surprised Adam Smith. In fact, theme of Smith’s first book, the Theory of Moral Sentiments , was the innate honesty of mankind. “How selfish soever man may be supposed,” Smith wrote, “there are evidently some principles in his nature which interest him in the fortune of others, and render their happiness necessary to him, though he derives nothing from it, except the pleasure of seeing it.” Which best describes the authors’ purpose in using a quotation from Adam Smith’s book The Theory of Moral Sentiments ?
Answer
A
to prove that people are inherently dishonest
B
to lend credibility and additional support to their conclusion
C
to highlight their knowledge of Scottish philosophers
D
to demonstrate that incentive is the driving force behind cheating
Explanation
The authors use Adam Smith’s quotation to support the idea that people can act honestly and care about others, even when no one is watching. Since Smith was a respected thinker who wrote about human morality, his words add credibility and support to the authors’ conclusion about Feldman’s customers. The quote does not argue that people are inherently dishonest or that incentives drive cheating.
AI-written and checked against the verified answer.