Summary
According to critics: Freudianism is incompatible with Western rationalism, because Freudianism believes in unconscious desires that can interfere with rational planning. But according to the author, Freudianism also believes that it’s possible to become aware of your unconscious desires and defeat them with rational thought.
Strongly Supported Conclusions
The stimulus supports the inference that, in Freudian thought, unconscious desires do not inevitably defeat rational planning. We can also infer that Freudianism isn’t truly opposed to Western rationalism, because it holds that rational thought can still overcome unconscious desires.
A
Freudianism does not run counter to the rationalistic mainstream of Western philosophical and psychological thought
This is strongly supported by the stimulus. Because the irrational unconscious desires in Freudian thought can still be defeated by rational thought after psychoanalysis, rational thought ultimately triumphs. This means Freudianism is compatible with rationalism.
B
Freudianism holds that people can always achieve happiness through psychoanalysis
This is unsupported. The stimulus never talks about happiness, so we just don’t know what Freudianism says about achieving happiness.
C
Freudianism may be the beginning of a new trend in Western philosophical and psychological thought
This is not supported by the stimulus. The author’s claims deal with the apparent conflict between Freudianism and Western rationalism, but nothing in the stimulus suggests that Freudianism is likely to defeat rationalism as the new dominant trend.
D
psychoanalysis provides one with a rational life plan
This is not supported. The author only says that psychoanalysis can help people to defeat unconscious desires that could interfere with their pre-existing life plans. That doesn’t suggest that psychoanalysis provides new rational life plans.
E
Freudianism reflects the predominantly rationalistic spirit of Western philosophical and psychological thought more than any other psychological theory
The stimulus does not support this claim. The author’s statements allow us to infer that Freudianism and Western rationalism are not incompatible, but it doesn’t follow that no other theory has a greater influence on Freudianism.
Cookie Cutter Review
RRE question with correlation phenomenon in stimulus and a set of causation hypothesis in answers.