PrepTest 115 - Section 1 - Passage 4 - Question 25

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Some philosophers find the traditional, subjective approach to studying the mind outdated and ineffectual. ███ █████ ███ ███████ ██ ████████ ███ █████████ ██ ████ ██ ██████ ███ ████████ ██ ███ █████████ ████ ███ ██ ██████ ███ ████ █████████ ██ ████████ ██ ██████ ████ ██ ███████████ █████████████ ███ █████████ ████████ ███████████ ████ ██████ ██ ███ ███████ ██████████ ████ ███ █ ██████████ █████ ████ ███ ███████ ███████ ██ █████████████ ███████ ████████ ███████████ ████ ██ █ ██████████ ███████████ ██████████ ██████ ████ ███████████ ██ ███ █████ ██ ███ ██████ ████████ ████████ ██ ███ █████████████ ██ ██████████ ██████████ ███ ███ ██ █████████ ███████ █████████ ██ ███ ██████████ █████ ██ █████ ████ ███████ ██ ████████ ██ ███ ████████ ████ ██ █████ ████████████ ██ ██████████ ████████ ███ ████████ ████ █████████ ████████ ███ ████ ██████████ ██████████ ██ ████████ ██████████ ████ █████ ████████████ ████ ██████ ██ ███████ ███ ████ ██ ██ ███ ██████████

Some philosophers' perspective · Subjective approach to studying the mind doesn't work

We should try to study the mind based on hard data that's observable rather than purely subjective descriptions of feelings.

Other philosophers' perspective · Knowledge includes subjective experience, so no reason to look only to objective data

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Difficult to reconcile · Each side starts from different assumptions

Thus, genuine communication between the two sides is almost impossible.

Analogy · The two sides are like adherents to different religions

Each side believes its own religious texts; we can't resolve a debate by just looking at the texts themselves. To resolve the debate, we need to investigate the authority of the texts.

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How to reconcile · Investigate the authority of the subjective and objective perspectives

We should engage in epistomelogy (the study of knowledge) to better understand how to approach knowledge about the mind.

Passage Style

Critique or debate

Problem-analysis

25.

In the third sentence of ███ █████ ██████████ ███ ██████ █████████ ███ ████ ██ ██████████ █████████ ██

Question Type

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

Structure

To understand the purpose of the line, make sure to read a little bit before it. Before the referenced line, the author tells us that there are philosophers who criticize the traditional, subjective approach to studying the mind. The author then elaborates on the philosophers’ view. The discussion of scientists appears to be part of the author’s attempt to present the view of philosophers who oppose subjectivism when studying the mind.

contrast the traditional ████████ ██ ████████ ███ ████ ████ ███ ████████ █████████ ██ ████████████

This best captures the author’s purpose. The author contrasts the traditional approach — which involves investigating how a phenomenon “feels from the inside” — with the objectivists’ approach, which involves pursuing hard data that’s externally observable. This contrast is part of explaining the objectivists’ view.

70%

argue that the ███████ ██ ████████ ███ █████████ ██ ████ ██████ ██ ████ ███████ █████████ ██ ███ ██████████ █████ ██ ████

The author doesn’t “argue” anything yet. P1 involves describing the objectivists’ view. The author’s opinion doesn’t come in until later.

explain why scientists ██████ ███ ███████ ██████████ ████ ██████████ ███ █ ██████████ █████ ████ ███ ██████

The author doesn’t argue that scientists “should not” concern themselves with describing how a phenomenon feels from the inside. The author never sides with the objectivists in P1 or anywhere in the passage.

criticize subjectivists for ████████ █████ ██ ██████ ██ ██ ██████ ████ ████████ ███ ████ ██████████████

The author doesn’t criticize anyone in P1. The author simply describes the objectivists’ view.

clarify why the █████████████ ████████ ███ ████ ██████████ ██ ███████████ ████ ██ ██████████ ████████ ███ ███████

The author doesn’t attempt to explain why objectivists have been successful in certain disciplines. Although she notes that they have been successful, we never get an explanation for why or how objectivism was able to be successful.

18%

PrepTest 115 - Section 1 - Passage 4 - Question 25

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