PrepTest 158, Section 1, Question 20
Passage A is adapted from an essay by(467 more words not shown)
Passage A(235 more words not shown)
Passage B(240 more words not shown)
Which one of the following(9 more words not shown)
- APassage B recommends(16 more words not shown)
- BPassage B advances(12 more words not shown)
- CPassage B supports(19 more words not shown)
- DPassage B concurs(22 more words not shown)
- EPassage B implies(16 more words not shown)
Reading the passage
A criticizes Rosenthal's approach; B evaluates that criticism. Our prediction is qualified agreement: Kewes accepts the objection to reducing moral standards to power but thinks Ricks carries his suspicion of historical approaches too far.
What we’re looking for
The important distinction is between correcting factual details and challenging the reach of a conclusion. Kewes's response is about the latter: some bad history doesn't justify rejecting historical inquiry itself.
Working the answers
- A
Kewes doesn't present Ricks as following her recommendation adequately. Her defense of responsible historical inquiry answers what she sees as an excessive rejection of it.
- B
The relationship isn't that A supplies evidence refuting B's argument. B engages with A's criticism, accepts part of it, and explains why it doesn't warrant the broader suspicion.
- C
The agreement makes this tempting, but the description of the disagreement is wrong. Kewes isn't correcting a few mistaken details while accepting the overall conclusion. She challenges how far Ricks takes the criticism.
- DCorrect
B expressly calls Ricks rightly dismissive of reducing morality to power, then says poor historical scholarship does not discredit historical inquiry as a whole (Passage B, paragraph 3). Those two moves supply the agreement and the objection to an unjustified extension of his position.
- E
All of A's assertions cannot be treated as misguided when B explicitly endorses some of them. Kewes's response is selective, not a wholesale rejection.
More Organization questions
Learn the LSAT our way
Our platform drills Organization questions at your level and adjusts as you improve.