Statement: “If people are intelligent, they should be creative.” Consider this statement to be true and decide which of the given assumptions is or are implicit.

Difficulty: Medium

Correct Answer: Only assumption I follows.

Explanation:


Introduction / Context:
This problem examines the logical relationship between intelligence and creativity. The statement says that if people are intelligent, they should be creative. You must decide which assumptions are built into this claim. Assumption questions require you to look behind the words and identify the underlying beliefs that make the statement reasonable.


Given Data / Assumptions:

  • Statement: If people are intelligent, they should be creative.
  • Assumption I: Creativity and intelligence are related.
  • Assumption II: Creative people are intelligent.
  • Task: Decide which assumptions follow from or are implicit in the given statement.


Concept / Approach:
The statement is a conditional: intelligence should be accompanied by creativity. This directly links the two qualities. Saying that intelligent people should be creative implies that intelligence is somehow connected with creativity, at least in the speaker's view. This is very close to Assumption I. However, the statement does not say anything about people who are creative but not necessarily intelligent; that is a different direction of implication. Therefore, we expect Assumption I to be implicit, and Assumption II to go beyond what is justified by the statement.


Step-by-Step Solution:
Step 1: Interpret the statement. If people are intelligent, they should be creative means that intelligence is expected to express itself partly as creativity.Step 2: This makes sense only if the speaker believes that these two traits are connected. Otherwise, there would be no reason to expect creativity from intelligence.Step 3: Assumption I explicitly states that creativity and intelligence are related. This is exactly the underlying belief that supports the main statement.Step 4: Therefore, Assumption I is implicit.Step 5: Assumption II says that creative people are intelligent. This is the converse of the conditional in the statement.Step 6: The given statement talks only about intelligent people and what they should be like. It does not state or imply that every creative person must be intelligent.Step 7: It is entirely possible under the statement that some creative people may not be particularly intelligent, because the statement does not address that group at all.Step 8: Hence Assumption II does not necessarily follow from the statement and is not implicit.


Verification / Alternative check:
Imagine a world where the speaker believes that intelligence and creativity go hand in hand. In this world, saying If people are intelligent, they should be creative is natural, and Assumption I clearly holds. Now imagine another world where some creative artists are not very strong in conventional measures of intelligence. The original statement can still be true in that world, because it only demands creativity from those who are intelligent, not intelligence from every creative person. Therefore, the statement does not logically enforce Assumption II.


Why Other Options Are Wrong:

  • Option b is wrong because Assumption II is not required by the statement.
  • Option c is wrong because including Assumption II overstates what the original statement implies.
  • Option d is wrong because it ignores the clear relation between intelligence and creativity that must be assumed.
  • Option e incorrectly claims a contradiction, whereas Assumption II is simply not implied, not opposed, by the statement.


Common Pitfalls:

  • Confusing a one way condition (intelligent implies creative) with a two way equivalence (intelligent if and only if creative).
  • Automatically adding the converse of a given conditional as if it were guaranteed.
  • Ignoring the specific direction of the statement and generalising it to all people with either trait.


Final Answer:
Only assumption I follows: creativity and intelligence are related.

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