PrepTest 133, Section 3, Question 19
Professor: One cannot frame an accurate conception of(43 more words not shown)
The professor's argument proceeds(1 more words not shown)
- Aattempting to show(17 more words not shown)
- Bdeveloping a case(16 more words not shown)
- Cmaking a case(16 more words not shown)
- Darguing that because(15 more words not shown)
- Earguing that a(20 more words not shown)
Reading the argument
Imagine seeing an office for just an instant from one spot. You can see what's in front of you, but not everything behind or below you. That glimpse gives you a perspective on the room, not a complete picture of the room.
The professor uses that idea to help us understand the claim about history. A historian also presents a particular perspective, shaped by the historian's biases and prejudices. The professor argues that the resulting book gives a distorted view of the past, just as a single physical perspective fails to give an accurate conception of the whole environment.
What we’re looking for
The question asks how the argument proceeds. We're looking for a comparison used in support of a conclusion. The physical-perception example is meant to be a sensible starting point; its resemblance to the history example is supposed to make the history claim convincing. We don't have to decide that the analogy proves the claim in every case to identify how the professor uses it.
Working the answers
- A
This describes a comparison used to discredit reasoning: “Your argument resembles that bad argument, so yours is bad too.” The professor does the opposite. The physical-perspective argument is presented as something to accept, and the resemblance is used to support the conclusion about history books.
- B
The professor never assumes that the history claim is false and traces out absurd consequences. Instead, the argument compares two situations involving limited perspectives. There is no step saying, “If my conclusion were false, this impossible result would follow.”
- CCorrect
The professor makes a case for the history conclusion by comparing its reasoning with the apparently sound reasoning about a momentary physical perception. A single physical viewpoint corresponds to a historian's particular viewpoint; an inadequate picture of the environment corresponds to the distorted picture of the past. “Cogent” here means convincing or well reasoned: that is how the first argument is being presented.
- D
This would move from a set of traits of something to another related trait of that same thing. The professor instead gives two arguments in different settings and uses the resemblance between them. We need to capture that comparison of reasoning, not just a generic inference from characteristics.
- E
This sounds close because perception is involved, but it treats the reasoning as a demonstration that the same kind of human cognition fails again under similar circumstances. The professor compares a momentary view of physical surroundings with a written historical account shaped by an author's perspective. The comparison between those arguments is the method; C states it directly without turning it into a repeated test of one mental process.
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