Re: Those who opine lose their impunity when the circumstances in which th
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27 Jun 2015, 11:36
Summary:
A person can give opinions in a non-pompous way as long as it does not harm others.
When you live in a region where customs are prevalent, then you should learn from the experiences before giving opinions.
3 ways how customs adds to each individual unique experience.
1. Based on information in the passage, with which of the following statements about opinions would the author most likely NOT disagree?
A. Different opinions exist because people are imperfect.
1st para, 6th sentence: "As it is useful that while mankind are imperfect there should be different opinions..." does not imply BECAUSE "people are imperfect" there are "different opinions"
B. An opinion can be relatively harmless in one context and dangerous in another.
1st para, 2nd sentence: "An opinion that corn dealers are starvers of the poor, or that owning private property is robbery, ought to be unmolested when simply circulated through the press, but may justly incur punishment when delivered orally to an excited mob assembled before the house of a corn dealer, or when handed about among the same mob in the form of a placard" This is an example ditto of what is describe in option B. CORRECT.
C. Opinions directed specifically against fellow human beings should be punished.
1st para, 3rd sentence: "Acts, of whatever kind, which without justifiable cause do harm to others, may be, and in the more important cases are absolutely required to be, controlled by the unfavourable sentiments, and, when needful, by the active interference of mankind." The underlined portion only goes far that "when needful, active interference of mankind" can be used. It does not go as far to say it SHOULD be punished.
D. All expressions of opinion should really be considered actions.
The whole of 1st para explains scenarios where expressions of opinions could be considered or non-considered actions (the ones which cause harm to others)
E. An opinion always has an additional unintended effect
No support for this anywhere
2. The author holds that one should not necessarily defer to the traditions and customs of other people. The author supports his position by arguing that:
I. traditions and customs are usually the result of misinterpreted experiences.
2nd para, 3rd line: "The traditions and customs of other people are,... evidence of what their experience has taught them...but, in the first place, their experience may be too narrow, or they may have not interpreted it rightly. "
So the passage says that people MIGHT have had narrow experience, and MIGHT have not interpreted it rightly. So the use of "usually" in I is not justified.
II. customs are based on experiences in the past, which are different from modern experiences.
No support for past/ present in the 2nd part of the passage.
III. customs can stifle one‘s individual development.
2nd para, last line: "does not educate him or develop in him any of the qualities which are the distinctive endowments of a human being. He gains no practice either in discerning or desiring what is best." III is simply a concise way of what is said in the passage.
A. II only
B. III only
C. I and III only
D. II and III only
E. None
3. The existence of which of the following phenomena would most strongly challenge the author‘s argument about ―"conforming to custom merely as custom"?
Just to re-iterate, the passage, in its last line said that to conform to custom merely as custom does not educate him or develop a person. He gains no practice either in discerning or desiring what is best.
We have to challenge (weaken) the conclusion by saying that conforming to custom DOES educate/develop a person and he DOES gain practice in distinguishing what is best for him.
A. A class in morality taught at a parochial high school
No talk about how "a class in morality" can help a person distinguish what is best for him.
B. An important discovery made by a researcher who uses unconventional methods
It is a discovery, so it does not even fall as a "custom" which as the passage says needs to be trained in youth, and inculcated through experience.
C. A culture in which it is traditional to let children make their own decisions
Well, if a culture allows little kids to make decisions for themselves then it has transferred the onus of making the decision of good or bad from parents to kids. CORRECT
D. A custom that involves celebrating a noteworthy historical event
Celebrating an event may be a part of custom, however, it does not help in understanding how it helps to distinguish good from bad.
E. a culture in which only the senior most person takes the important decisions
Well this is a strengthener!