Question

LOGICAL REASONING:

IDENTIFYING CENTRAL ASSUMPTION

All material bodies are divisible into parts, and everything divisible is imperfect. It follows rgar akk material bodies are imperfect.It likewise follows that the spirit is not a material body.

The final conclusion above follows logically if which one of the following is assumed?

a) Everything divisible is a material body.
b) Nothing imperfect is indivisible.
c) The spirit is divisible.
d) The spirit is perfect.
e) The spirit is either indivisible or imperfect.

Answer 1

The assumption 'The spirit is either indivisible or imperfect' (e) is required to logically conclude the spirit is not a material body, aligning with dualism that separates physical and spiritual substances.

Step-by-step explanation:

The central assumption required to conclude that the spirit is not a material body, based on the given premises that all material bodies are divisible and imperfect and that everything divisible is imperfect, is option (e), 'The spirit is either indivisible or imperfect'. If we assume the spirit is perfect, it cannot be divisible (since divisibility implies imperfection), and therefore, it cannot be a material body. Thus, the argument concludes that the spirit is not material, asserting a form of dualism, where physical and spiritual substances are distinct and essentially different form one another.