PrepTest 149, Section 3, Question 15
There is a popular view among literary critics(45 more words not shown)
The reasoning in the argument(9 more words not shown)
- Apresupposes the falsity(9 more words not shown)
- Btakes for granted(14 more words not shown)
- Ctakes for granted(19 more words not shown)
- Dprovides no justification(11 more words not shown)
- Eprovides no justification(7 more words not shown)
Reading the argument
They can't have it both ways. If no poem can be paraphrased accurately, their own paraphrases can't be accurate either.
But which belief is wrong? Maybe accurate paraphrases are possible. Or maybe these critics are overrating their own work, and their supposed accurate paraphrases aren't accurate at all. Showing a conflict between the beliefs doesn't decide which claim to abandon.
Imagine Bob says the ice cream truck comes only on Tuesdays, but also expects it to come on Wednesday. There's a problem with his beliefs. That doesn't establish that the Tuesday-only schedule is false; perhaps his Wednesday expectation is the mistake. We'd want information about the truck's schedule, not just evidence that Bob is inconsistent.
What we’re looking for
For the flaw, I'd look for that unsupported choice between conflicting beliefs. The author establishes that the critics' views don't fit together, then treats the general claim about paraphrasing as the one that must be false.
Working the answers
- A
Assuming the conclusion would be a problem, but that isn't what happens here. The premise reports that the critics believe their own paraphrases are accurate; it doesn't establish as a fact that accurate paraphrases exist. The author makes an unjustified choice about which belief to accept rather than simply presenting the desired conclusion as its own support.
- B
The author doesn't state the main purpose of poetry. A poem might express feelings, convey information, or serve other purposes, and we could still ask whether a paraphrase accurately conveys its meaning. We don't need to resolve that broader purpose question to identify the inconsistency or the author's mistake.
- C
Accuracy and usefulness are different. A paraphrase might help a reader even if it doesn't capture the poem's meaning perfectly. The argument doesn't deny that possibility; it addresses whether accurate paraphrases are possible. C introduces a condition on usefulness that the reasoning never needs.
- DCorrect
The author favors the critics' belief that their particular paraphrases are accurate over their belief that accurate paraphrasing is impossible. Why favor that one? The critics could be mistaken about their own work. Their beliefs can't both be true, but that doesn't identify the false one. They might even both be wrong: accurate paraphrases could be possible while these particular attempts fail. The conclusion needs a reason to reject the general belief, beyond merely showing that the critics also hold an incompatible belief.
- E
There is no dispute over different definitions of 'paraphrase' doing the work here. We can use the same meaning throughout and still see the problem: the author hasn't shown which conflicting belief deserves acceptance. A missing explanation of a word's definition isn't what makes that choice unjustified.
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