The great French moralists presented many of their musings on human na

Question

The great French moralists presented many of their musings on human nature in the form of maxims, pithy statements of general truths or principles. These maxims often contained a clever twist, used by the moralists to draw attention to the complexity of the human psyche. Maxims attempt to emphasize one particular part of human nature or human experience, one that is often contrary to the received wisdom of the culture. The French moralists often stated their maxims as a universal truth for maximum effect; the true point of the maxim, however, was to act as a counterpoint to popular opinion.

A maxim and its contrary might both be true, or more precisely, sometimes true. Consider the maxim, “we have not the strength to follow our reason all the way,” and its contrary, “we have not the reason to follow our strength all the way.” Both statements are true enough to warrant a spirited defense, depending, of course, on the perspectives of the reader. However, the moralists were not interested in synthesizing these contrary positions into one law. Rather, they wished to show the deficiencies of conventional wisdom   1 
 B 
 1. The author suggests that the French moralists

A. wrote a number of books on morality
B. were more interested in being descriptive than prescriptive
C. did not believe that their maxims were true
D. were upset with the received wisdom of their culture
E. found the human psyche easy to understand

2 
 A 
 2. According to the information in the passage, the contrary of the maxim “one may forgive an infidelity, but not forget it,” would most likely be

A. “one may forget an infidelity, but not forgive it”
B. “to forget is human, to forgive divine”
C. “all things may be forgiven except not being forgiven”
D. “fidelity means being true to everyone but oneself”
E. “there is no better feeling than to forgive oneself”

3 
 B 
 3. The author of the passage would most likely agree with which of the following statements about maxims?

A. maxims are universal laws
B. the lesson of a maxim is subjective
C. the French moralists wrote the best maxims
D. maxims and their contraries are always true
E. maxims are not effective unless they critique cultural norms

RC Butler 2021  -  Practice Two RC Questions Everyday.   
Passage # 184 Date: 10-May-2021
 This question is a part of RC Butler 2021 .  Click here for Details

hongg7 · Answer

Can anyone help with the first question? Please tell me from where in the passage you can derive the answer.. Thanks

OC2910 · Answer

Para 1: author describes maxims of FM : maxims generally against the general opinion
 Para 2: maxims and contrary both true : the motive was to show general inconsistency in world : no perspective in place

Q1
A. wrote a number of books on morality: no books mentioned 
B. were more interested in being descriptive than prescriptive: author says they were not based on perspective (both contrary and maxim itself may be true ) correct option
C. did not believe that their maxims were true : a 180 the FM put their maxims as 100 percent true
D. were upset with the received wisdom of their culture: they wrote maxim against the general wisdom but they may not be upset : too strong choice
E. found the human psyche easy to understand :180 again : they find it complex

Q2 
“one may forgive an infidelity, but not forget it,” would most likely be
 may forgive ----- not forget

not the strength to follow our reason all the way,” and its contrary, “we have not the reason to follow our strength all the way
no strength ------- reason
contrary : no reason ----------- strength

may forgive ----- not forget
contrary as per text no forgive ---------- forget

only Choice A follow this pattern so option A

Q3:  author  agreeing 
A. maxims are universal laws: no this is mentioned but author never says so that he does 
B. the lesson of a maxim is subjective: he do mentions that perspective is no there so its based on subjection : correct answer
C. the French moralists wrote the best maxims: no mention of best
D. maxims and their contraries are always true: always true : no author mentions a probability 
E. maxims are not effective unless they critique cultural norms:no mention of such terms

venkywaran · Answer

The answer is in the lines "However, the moralists were not interested in synthesizing these contrary positions into one law" 
means they are not interested in being prescriptive.

redskull1 · Answer

Need some expert help for 1st Q...

The first sentence precisely tells that maxims are pithy statements.Please note that descriptive is the opposite of pithy.

Also the last portion of the second para tells that they are not interested in prescriptive.OK AGREED.But how the hell does "Rather, they wished to show the deficiencies of conventional wisdom" imply that they are interested in being descriptive than prescriptive...

People who got it right please chip in pinpointly

sandman13 · Answer

1. The author suggests that the French moralists 
this is a detail question. Since FM are talked about in both passages, we cannot zoom in and rescan the relevant passage. We can just attack the choices.

A. wrote a number of books on morality
^number of books are not mentioned anywhere in the passage.

B. were more interested in being descriptive than prescriptive
 However, the moralists were not interested in synthesizing these contrary positions into one law. Rather, they wished to show the deficiencies of conventional wisdom 
^with this text in mind, put this option on hold

C. did not believe that their maxims were true
^passage does not say that anywhere

D. were upset with the received wisdom of their culture
 Maxims attempt to emphasize one particular part of human nature or human experience, one that is often contrary to the received wisdom of the culture. 
just because maxim are  often  contrary to received wisdom of the culture, we can't say moralists were upset with received wisdom of the culture an THAT is why they wrote the maxims

E. found the human psyche easy to understand
^not mentioned anywhere

B wins.

navderm · Answer

What ? you got confused between prescriptive and perspective. They are completely different things. 
Also, the question talks about what the position of moralists was, not of the author.

Kritika09 · Answer

Can anyone please explain question 2?

Sajjad1994 · Answer

Official Explanation

2. According to the information in the passage, the contrary of the maxim “one may forgive an infidelity, but not forget it,” would most likely be

Difficulty Level:   500

Explanation

This applying information question asks you to figure out what a  “contrary”  maxim is. The example provided is  “we have not the strength to follow our reason all the way,”  and its contrary,  “we have not the reason to follow our strength all the way.”  The contrary of the maxim  “one may forgive an infidelity, but not forget it,”  must be  choice A , then. The other choices do not follow the example of a contrary provided in the passage.

Answer: A

AbhishekP220108 · Answer

In Question 3, from do we verify about lessons of maxims?

miag · Answer

Hi,

We verify B from the line that both a maxim and its contrary can be defended "depending on the perspectives of the reader." That indicates the takeaway isn't a fixed universal law; it varies with interpretation. The author also says the moralists weren't trying to synthesize into one law, which further supports that the 'lesson' isn't objective/universal.

Hope this helps!

kartickdey · Answer

Sajjad1994  please provide the official explanation of Q1.

Sajjad1994 · Answer

Official Explanation

1. The author suggests that the French moralists

This is an inference question. Look for the parts of the passage that refer to the  “moralists.”  The answer is found in the  final sentence:   “the moralists were not interested in synthesizing these contrary positions into one law. Rather, they wished to show the deficiencies of conventional wisdom.”  Thus, the moralists wanted to point out (describe) problems, not provide (prescribe)  “laws.”

Nothing in the passage discusses the number of books written, so eliminate  choice A.

Choice C  refers to a part of the passage that does not apply to the moralists, but rather to the author’s analysis of the maxims.

Nothing supports  choices D  and  E.

Answer: B

The great French moralists presented many of their musings on human na

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GMAT Reading Comprehension (RC) Questions

The great French moralists presented many of their musings on human na

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