Self-study
Some theorists argue that literary critics should strive to be value-neutral in their literary criticism. █████ █████████ ████████ ████ ██ ████████ ███ ███████ ██ ████████ █████ ███████ ██████████ █████ ███████ ████ ██████ ███████ ██ ████ █████ ███ █████████ █████ ███ ██████ ███████ ███ ████████ █████████ ██████ ██ ██████████ ██████████████ █████ ████ █████████ ███ ████████ █████ ████ ██ ██ ███████████ ████ ███ ████████ ██████████
Summary
The author concludes that literary critics should NOT try (strive) to be value-neutral in their literary criticism. This is based on the fact that literary criticism cannot be completely value-neutral.
If you didn’t understand the conclusion in the way described above, then you probably didn’t translate what it means for the theorists to be “mistaken about what is an appropriate goal for literary criticism.” The first sentence said the theorists argue that striving to be value-neutral was an appropriate goal. If those theorists are mistaken, that means striving to be value-neutral is NOT an appropriate goal.
Missing Connection
Does the fact that literary critics can’t be value-neutral prove that they shouldn’t TRY to be value-neutral? No. Why shouldn’t we strive for the impossible? To make the argument valid, we want to establish that if something can’t be done, then literary critics shouldn’t try to do it.
14.
The argument's conclusion follows logically ██ █████ ███ ██ ███ █████████ ██ ████████
a
Any critic who ██ ████ ██ ████ ███████ ████ █████ ███ █████████ █████ ████████ ██████ ██████ ██████ ██████ ██ ███████ █████████████ ██████████
(A) supports a conclusion that certain critics SHOULD try to produce value-neutral criticism. But we want to establish that critics should NOT try to produce value-neutral criticism.
b
If it is ██████████ ██ ███████ ██████████ █████████████ ████████ ██████████ ████ ███████ ██████ ███ ████ ███ ██ ██ ██████████████
(B) gets us from the premise to the conclusion. If, as the premise establishes, it’s impossible to produce completely value-neutral criticism, then the conclusion must be true — critics shouldn’t try to be value-neutral.
c
Critics are more ██████ ██ ███████ ██████████ ██ ███ █████ ████ ████ ████ ██ ███████ ██████████ ██ ███ █████ ████ ████████
(C) doesn’t establish that critics shouldn’t try to do something. Learning about what critics are more likely to do doesn’t establish what they should not do.
d
The less readers ██████████ ███ ███████ ██ █ ████████ █████ ███ ████ ███████ ████ ████ ██ ██ ██████████ ████ ██████ ███████
(D) doesn’t establish that critics shouldn’t try to do something. What readers understand or are capable of might relate to the theorists’ support for their own view. But it doesn’t connect the author’s premise to the conclusion.
e
Critics who try ██ █████ █████████ █████ █████████ █████ ███ █████ ████ ████████ ████ ██ █████████ ████████ █████████ ████ ████ █████ ███████ ███
(E) doesn’t establish that critics shouldn’t try to do something. Whether and how critics influence readers’ judgments might have some relationship to the theorists’ support for their view. But it doesn’t connect the author’s premise to the conclusion.