PrepTest 133, Section 4, Question 24
Passage A Central to the historian's profession and(481 more words not shown)
Passage A(193 more words not shown)
Passage B(296 more words not shown)
The author of passage B(18 more words not shown)
- Adetachment aids the(9 more words not shown)
- Ban objective historical(7 more words not shown)
- Chistorians today are(6 more words not shown)
- Dpropaganda is an(5 more words not shown)
- Ehistorians of different(11 more words not shown)
Reading the passage
The central contrast should guide us. A's objective historian must shed external loyalties and avoid partisanship. B says strong commitment can coexist with objective scholarship. We're looking for that disagreement, not just something either account mentions.
Working the answers
- A
This is initially tempting because A and B treat neutrality differently. But B still calls detachment a necessary way to reach a fuller understanding (Passage B, paragraph 2). Both value it; B's objection is to treating it as an end in itself. So this statement doesn't separate their positions.
- BCorrect
A requires insulation from political considerations. B expressly says a historian can be objective while remaining politically committed (Passage B, paragraph 2). This puts them on opposite sides of the same claim.
- C
Neither account compares today's historians' level of objectivity with that of earlier historians. We don't have opposing positions on that trend.
- D
Both treat propaganda as something historical scholarship should avoid. Neither presents it as an essential tool.
- E
A actually acknowledges that different generations have assigned different meanings to past events. B doesn't deny that interpretations can differ. This isn't their disagreement.
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