Question

there is a tale, \the ring of gyges,\ that feldman sometimes tells his economist friends. it comes from platos 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 feldmans 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. glaucons 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. but paul feldman sides with socrates and adam smith—for he knows the answer, at least 87 percent of the time, is yes.
feldman reaches the conclusion that most people are honest without receiving an incentive by
○ making a claim about his individual experiences and looking for evidence.
○ making a broad generalization about morality and looking for evidence.
○ studying his individual experiences and arriving at a broad generalization.
○ studying a counterclaim about morality and arriving at a broad generalization.

Explanation:

Feldman's conclusion is based on his own experiences (like the story of the ring and his work - likely related to his business of bagel sales where he observed honesty). He studied his individual experiences (the bagel business where he saw people pay or not) and from that arrived at a broad generalization (most people are honest 87% of the time). The first option “making a claim about his individual experiences and looking for evidence” is too simplistic as it's not just about making a claim and looking for evidence but arriving at a generalization. The second option “making a broad generalization about morality and looking for evidence” is not as accurate as it's his own experiences that led to the generalization. The fourth option “studying a counterclaim about morality and arriving at a broad generalization” - there's no indication of studying a counterclaim in the text.

Answer:

studying his individual experiences and arriving at a broad generalization.