PrepTest 114 - Section 3 - Passage 2 - Question 12

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Intellectual authority is defined as the authority of arguments that prevail by virtue of good reasoning and do not depend on coercion or convention. █ ███████████ ███████ █████████████ ██████████ ██████ ██ ███ █████ ██ ██████ ████████████ ██ ███████ ██████████ ██ █████████ ████ ███ ██ ███ ███ ███████ ████████████ ██████████ ███

Intro to Concepts · Intellectual v. Institutional Authority

Intellectual authority is founded on good reasoning whereas institutional authority is founded on the coercive power of social institutions.

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Question · Is the authority wielded by the courts institutional or intellectual?

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One Judge · claims courts have purely intellectual authority

Critics · claim courts have purely institutional authority

Some even say that intellectual authority doesn't exist.

Author’s Critique of Critics · Intellectual authority is real and different from institutional authority

Support: Some arguments accepted by institutions are later rejected on intellectual grounds; some arguments rejected by institutions are later recognized on intellectual grounds.

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Critics' Rebuttal to Author · Intellectual authority depends on institutional recognition

E.g., if a composer lingered in obscurity for 20 years and is hence judged to not be a genius, is that an intellectual or institutional judgment? You might say it's intellectual, i.e., a judgment on the merits, i.e., he's just a bad composer. But critics might say, hold on, how do you know 20 years is long enough to recognize merit or lack thereof? Why not 30 years or 70? The length of time is purely an institutional convention. Hence, even what seems like an intellectual judgment is actually an institutional one.

Critics' Rebuttal · Legal precedent is example of institutional authority

Judges decide cases based on how similar cases were previously decided.

Author’s Critique · Intellectual authority enables judges to reconsider, revise, or overrule precedent

Author's Main Point · Even if most of legal power is institutional, there is a significant amount of intellectual power as well.

Passage Style

Critique or debate

12.

Given the information in the ████████ ███ ██████ ██ █████ ██████ ██ ███████ █████ ███ ██ ███ ██████████

Question Type

Author’s perspective

Except (RC)

Implied

This is an Inference question about the author’s perspective. Recall the author’s conclusion: even if most of their power is institutional, legal systems also have a significant amount of intellectual authority. We need to use POE to determine which answer choice the author would probably not agree with.

Institutional authority may ██████ ██ █████████ ████████████ █████████ █████ █████

The author likely believes this. He says that intellectual authority does not depend on coercion. But institutional authority uses the power of social institutions to enforce arguments; this may involve coercion.

Intellectual authority may ██████ █████████████ ██████████ █████████████ █████████ █████ █████

The author probably does not believe this. While intellectual authority is founded on well-reasoned arguments, we can’t conclude that institutional authority never accepts well-reasoned arguments. In fact, the author says that institutional authority enforces arguments that “may or may not” possess intellectual authority. This suggests that the two can overlap; institutional authority sometimes does enforce, and thus accept, well-reasoned arguments.

52%

Institutional authority may ██████ ██ ███████████ ████████████ █████████ █████ █████

The author likely believes this. He says that intellectual authority does not depend on convention. But institutional authority uses the power of social institutions to enforce arguments. In doing so, institutional authority may depend on social convention.

13%

Intellectual authority sometimes ██████████ █████████████ ████████ █████████████ █████████ █████ █████

The author likely believes this. He says that intellectual authority sometimes challenges institutional beliefs. But institutional authority can’t challenge institutional beliefs. Why? Because revision and reconsideration are a form of intellectual authority and thus cannot be a form of institutional authority. In other words, as soon as you challenge institutional beliefs, you’re practicing intellectual authority.

12%

Intellectual authority sometimes █████████ ████ ██████████ █████████████ █████████ █████ █████

The author likely believes this. In P4, he says, “the conflict between intellectual and institutional authority in legal systems is thus played out in the reconsideration of decisions.” Intellectual authority sometimes challenges and conflicts with precedent, but institutional authority can’t conflict with precedent, since precedent is a form of institutional authority.

15%

PrepTest 114 - Section 3 - Passage 2 - Question 12

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