Question

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read the following excerpt from levitt and dubner’s freakonomics.
there is a tale, “the ring of gyges,” that feldman sometimes tells his economist friends. it comes from plato’s 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 feldman’s 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. glaucon’s 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 slides 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:

To solve this, we analyze each option:

1. Option 1: Feldman's conclusion isn't from "individual experiences" alone. He uses the counterclaim (Glaucon's story) and generalizes, so this is wrong.
2. Option 2: He doesn't start with a "broad generalization about morality" first. He uses the counterclaim (Glaucon's view) to reach his conclusion, so this is wrong.
3. Option 3: His conclusion isn't from "studying his individual experiences" as the text focuses on the counterclaim (Glaucon's story) and then generalizing, so this is wrong.
4. Option 4: Glaucon's story is a counterclaim (arguing people aren't honest without enforcement). Feldman studies this counterclaim and then arrives at a broad generalization (most people are honest at least 87% of the time), which matches.

Answer:

D. studying a counterclaim about morality and arriving at a broad generalization.