reply2spg wrote:
Tocqueville, a nineteenth-century writer known for his study of democracy in the United States, believed that a government that centralizes power in one individual or institution is dangerous to its citizens. Biographers claim that Tocqueville disliked centralized government because he blamed Napoleons rule for the poverty of his childhood in Normandy.
Which of the following, if true, would cast the most serious doubt on the biographers claim?
A. Although Napoleon was popularly blamed at the time for the terrible living conditions in Normandy, historians now know that bad harvests were really to blame for the poor economic conditions.
B. Napoleon was notorious for refusing to share power with any of his political associates.
C. Tocqueville said he knew that if his father had not suffered ill health, his family would have had a steady income and a comfortable standard of living.
D. Although Tocqueville asserted that United States political life was democratic, the United States of the nineteenth century allowed political power to be concentrated in a few institutions.
E. Tocqueville once wrote in a letter that, although his childhood was terribly impoverished, it was not different from the experience of his friends and neighbors in Normandy.
warrior1991 - you are focused on the wrong people. It's easy to do.
I think we may have some verb tense issues going on, too.
In passages that contain sequential logic, the verbs can make a difference. Maybe not. Let's see.
• Work backwards: what do the biographers claim?Question: Which of the following, if true, would cast the most serious doubt on
the biographers claim?Biographers claim that Tocqueville disliked centralized government because he blamed Napoleon's rule for the poverty of his childhood in Normandy.
-- Focus on
the biographers.-- Attack their claim.
-- The truth value of the biographers' claim depends on the fact
in boldface type:
Tocqueville
disliked centralized government because he blamed Napoleon's rule for the poverty of his childhood in Normandy.-- Biographers:
Because Tocqueville
blamed Napoleon's rule for
the poverty of his childhood in Normandy, [de Tocqueville disliked central government]
--
The biographers' claim: Because Tocqueville blamed Napoleon . . .How do we attack this causal link?Attack
because.Find the answer in which Tocqueville does not blame Napoleon.• ANSWER C: does Tocqueville blame Napoleon?C. Tocqueville said he knew that if his father had not suffered ill health, his family would have had a steady income and a comfortable standard of living.
Time sequence:
-- Tocqueville's father was ill.
-- His father could not work.
--
Because Tocqueville's father could not work, [Tocqueville suffered childhood poverty]:
the family did not have a steady income and a comfortable standard of living.
-- Tocqueville
himself said that he grew up in poverty because his father was ill.
•
Whom or what is Tocqueville blaming for the poverty of his childhood?-- Does Tocqueville blame Napoleon?
--
No. Tocqueville blames his father's illness.-- Done. The biographers claim that Tocqueville did X because he blamed Napoleon for the poverty of his childhood.
Tocqueville did not blame Napoleon.
He blamed his father's illness.
We could stop here and mark
Answer C.• Extend the analysisTocqueville disliked centralized government, but not because Tocqueville blamed Napoleon for Tocqueville's childhood poverty.
One more step? Okay. We do not need to go here. But we can.
True: Napoleon was autocratic (authoritarian, a despot, acted as if he were a king)
True: Napoleon centralized power in himself
True: Tocqueville disliked centralized power in government
Why did Tocqueville dislike centralized government? -- Was his dislike
because, as the biographers claim, Tocqueville blamed Napoleon for Tocqueville's childhood poverty?
-- Does Tocqueville's dislike of central government have anything to do
with
Napoleon's being to blame for the poverty that Tocqueville suffered as a child?
-- No.
-- BETTER EXPLANATION (and completely unnecessary because the logical chain is broken):
The
political theory argument would be that
Tocqueville disliked centralized power because Napoleon centralized power,
and centralized power, in turn, created disastrous results for France.
--
Tocqueville's dislike of centralized power is not connected to Tocqueville's blaming Napoleon for T's childhood poverty.-- Tocqueville blames his father's illness for Tocqueville's childhood poverty.
-- Tocqueville was not mad at Napoleon about Tocqueville's childhood poverty.
But the biographers insist that:
1) Tocqueville believed that Napoleon was responsible for the childhood poverty [FALSE]
and
2) because Tocqueville blamed Napoleon
for poverty, Tocqueville disliked centralized government [FALSE]
The
because part is wrong in #2.
The biographers are wrong, dead wrong, about the reason that Tocqueville disliked centralized government.
Answer C is correct.
• Answer A?A. Although Napoleon was popularly blamed at the time for the terrible living conditions in Normandy, historians now know that bad harvests were really to blame for the poor economic conditions.
-- This answer has nothing to do with
the biographers' claim.
-- The biographers' claim hinges upon whether Tocqueville
blamed Napoleon for Tocqueville's childhood poverty.-- If Tocqueville did NOT blame Napoleon for Tocqueville's childhood poverty,
then the biographers are wrong about WHY Tocqueville disliked centralized government.
Historians' knowledge about what was to blame
for poor economic conditions has nothing to do with
what
the biographers claim about whom
Tocqueville blamed.
If the answer does not go directly to the issue of whom Tocqueville blamed [for his childhood poverty],
then the answer does not even address, let alone weaken, the biographers' claim.
We do not have to get to the issue of centralized government,
although we can and did.
Hope that helps.
close
Updated on: 29 Feb 2024, 02:48
35%
(medium)
29%
(02:07)
wrong 
