Painting is poetry that is seen rather than felt, and poetry is painting that is felt rather than seen.
If the conceptual relationship embodied in the above statement is assumed to hold, which of the following most nearly exemplifies the same pattern of reasoning?The statement treats painting and poetry as two expressions of essentially the same thing, distinguished by
opposite modes of apprehension: painting is associated with seeing, while poetry is associated with feeling. The best parallel should reverse two corresponding modes in the same way.
(A) A map is a journey apprehended through space compressed into symbols, whereas a journey is a map apprehended through movement rather than symbols.
Incorrect. The two sides are not clean opposites: “space compressed into symbols” is not simply the counterpart of “movement.”
(B) A theorem is a proof apprehended through conclusion rather than demonstration, whereas a proof is a theorem apprehended through demonstration rather than conclusion.
Tempting because the wording has the same reversed structure. However, a theorem and a proof are not simply
two modes of experiencing the same thing: a proof establishes or demonstrates a theorem.
(C) A ritual is belief apprehended through action rather than conviction, whereas belief is ritual apprehended through conviction rather than action.
Correct. This most closely reproduces the conceptual relationship. A ritual represents belief through outward
action, while belief represents the same underlying content through inward
conviction. The two terms and their corresponding modes are then reversed, just as “painting/poetry” and “seen/felt” are reversed.
(D) A memoir is history apprehended through experience rather than chronology, whereas history is memoir apprehended through chronology rather than experience.
Tempting, and structurally similar. But memoir and history differ in more ways than simply experience versus chronology, so the conceptual equivalence is weaker.
(E) A photograph is a novel apprehended through sight rather than imagination, whereas a novel is a photograph apprehended through sight rather than imagination.
Incorrect. The second half does not reverse the modes. Both sides say “sight rather than imagination.”
Answer: (C)