PrepTest 114 - Section 3 - Passage 2 - Question 11

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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

11.

Which one of the following, ██ █████ ████ ██████████ ███ ████████ ██████████ ████ █████ ███████ ███████ █ ███████████ ██████ ██ ████████████ ██████████

Question Type

WSE (RC)

The author argues that legal systems contain a significant degree of intellectual authority in P4. As support, he says that judges can reconsider, revise, or overrule badly reasoned precedential decisions. The correct answer must undermine this reasoning.

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This doesn’t challenge the claim that legal systems have intellectual authority. (A) just tells us that some judges make badly reasoned decisions, but it doesn’t say anything about whether legal systems revise those decisions later. If they do, then they are practicing intellectual authority.

In some legal ████████ ███ ██████████ ██ ████████ █████████ ████ ███████ ██████ █████████ ██ ███ ██████ ████ ██ ██ ██ █████ █████ ████████

This doesn’t challenge the claim that legal systems have intellectual authority. (B) just tells us that some legal systems produce more badly reasoned judicial decisions than others. But it doesn’t say anything about whether legal systems revise those decisions later. If they do, then they are practicing intellectual authority.

Many socially inappropriate █████ █████████ ███ ██████ ███ ██ ██████ ████ █████ ████████ █████ ██ █████ ██████████ ██ █████

This doesn’t challenge the claim that legal systems have intellectual authority. Even if many socially inappropriate legal decisions are thrown out merely because of citizens’ opposition, there might also be many decisions that are thrown out because of judges’ well-reasoned reconsideration. In the second case, judges are practicing intellectual authority.

12%

In some legal ████████ ███ ██████████ ██ ████████ █████████ ████ ███ ████████████ ███ ███████ ██ ███ ██████ ████ ██ ██ ██ █████ █████ ████████

This doesn’t challenge the claim that legal systems have intellectual authority. (D) just tells us that some legal systems reconsider and revise previous judicial decisions more than others, perhaps because there are more badly reasoned decisions in these systems. Whatever the reason, the legal systems described in (D) are still practicing intellectual authority.

Judges are rarely ███████ ██ ███████ ███ ████████ ██ ██████ █████████ ████ ████████ ████ █████████ ████████ █████ ██████████

In P4, the author claims that legal systems contain intellectual authority, since judges can reconsider badly reasoned decisions. He assumes that just because judges can do this, they actually do. (E) points out this assumption, effectively undermining his reasoning and challenging his claim. If judges do not rectify badly reasoned decisions, then they aren’t practicing intellectual authority.

76%

PrepTest 114 - Section 3 - Passage 2 - Question 11

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