PrepTest 114, Section 3, Question 9
Intellectual authority is defined as the authority of(434 more words not shown)
Which one of the following(9 more words not shown)
- AAlthough some argue(32 more words not shown)
- BAlthough some argue(33 more words not shown)
- CAlthough some argue(28 more words not shown)
- DAlthough some argue(30 more words not shown)
- EAlthough some argue(34 more words not shown)
Reading the passage
We've already predicted the main point: legal systems have both intellectual and institutional authority. The ending keeps their institutional power but gives good reasoning a real role, too. I'm looking for an answer that preserves both parts rather than taking either extreme.
Working the answers
- A
This starts promisingly by allowing both kinds of authority. But it ends by explaining their institutional power to enforce bad decisions. The conclusion we're defending goes the other way: despite their institutional power, legal systems have intellectual authority because they can reconsider decisions. A shifts the emphasis away from that central claim.
- B
This is the judge's view from the opening, not the conclusion. The writer acknowledges that legal systems' power is predominantly institutional; B instead strips courts of coercive power.
- C
Some critics say intellectual authority reduces to institutional authority. The writer rejects that claim. Having aspects of both doesn't make the two the same thing.
- DCorrect
This captures our broad prediction and makes the reason precise. Judges can reexamine, alter, or discard an earlier ruling (paragraph 4) when its reasoning fails or it no longer applies. That examination supplies intellectual authority within a largely institutional system.
- E
“Exclusively” rules out the intellectual component the ending defends. The ability to enforce acceptance doesn't establish that good reasoning plays no role.
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