PrepTest 114 - Section 3 - Passage 2 - Question 13

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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

13.

The author discusses the example ████ ██████████ █████████ ██ █████ ██

Question Type

Purpose in context (of word, phrase, or idea)

Structure

Note that the musicology example illustrates the critics’ claim, not the author’s own perspective. He brings up musicology in P3 to illustrate the critics’ claim that intellectual authority depends on institutional recognition. If a musicologist decides that someone is not a genius because their work wasn’t recognized for several decades, this judgement is based on institutional convention, not intellectual authority.

distinguish the notion ██ █████████████ █████████ ████ ████ ██ ████████████ █████████

The author believes that institutional authority and intellectual authority are distinct, but the musicology example illustrates the critics’ claim that intellectual authority depends on institutional authority.

15%

give an example ██ ██ ████████ ██████████ ████████████ █████████ ████ ███ ███ ███████ ██ ███ ███ ████

We don’t know whether the musicology example “prevailed in its own time.” Regardless, its purpose is not to describe an argument possessing intellectual authority. Instead, its purpose is to suggest that even when something seems like it has intellectual authority, that authority actually comes from institutional consensus.

10%

identify an example ██ █████ ███ ██████████ ██ ███████ ██████ ███ ███ █████████ ███ ████ ██ ████

The illustration describes a musician who was never found to be a musical genius, not one who lost the ascription of musical genius over time. But more importantly, musicology is an example that the author uses to illustrate the critics’ claim. He doesn’t use it to draw any conclusions about musical geniuses. Its purpose is to illustrate the claim that intellectual authority depends on institutional authority.

illustrate the claim ████ █████████ ████████████ █████████ ████████ ██ ██████ ██ █████████████ █████████

The musicology example illustrates the critics’ claim, not the author’s own perspective. He brings up musicology in P3 to illustrate the critics’ claim that determining intellectual authority actually requires appealing to institutional authority. If a musicologist decides that someone is not a genius because their work wasn’t recognized for several decades, this judgement is based on institutional convention, not intellectual authority.

62%

demonstrate that the █████████ ███████ ██ ███ ████████ ██ ███████ ██████ ██ ████████ █████████████

Musicology is just an example that the author uses to illustrate the critics’ claim. He doesn’t use it to draw any conclusions about musicology or the arbiters of musical genius. Its purpose is to illustrate the claim that intellectual authority depends on institutional authority.

PrepTest 114 - Section 3 - Passage 2 - Question 13

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