The purposeful use of language makes knowing possible. As the Sophists

Question

The purposeful use of language makes knowing possible. As the Sophists (and many others subsequently) noted, language necessarily affects the truths that it can say or name. How we write is as important as what we write. From this perspective, rhetoric aims at knowledge, or makes it available. How it is made available will vary according to the apparatus in which it is generated. It could be argued that the academic essay, as it has come to be institutionalized within the humanities, is a writing that demonstrates all the virtues of mainstream literacy—unity, coherence, perspicuity, closure, and correctness. However, what students learn from the process of writing essays which, rhetorically, have been stripped of the art of invention, is to close discourse down, to let the conclusion dictate their thinking, and to necessarily censor whatever imagined possibilities seem irrelevant or inappropriate. What they learn is a trained  incapacity to speculate or raise questions , to try stylistic and formal alternatives.    1 
 1. The author of the passage attributes students’ “incapacity to speculate or raise questions” ( Highlighted ) in part to

A. the limitations of their vocabulary
B. the structure of the typical academic essay
C. their experimentation with stylistic and formal alternatives
D. the lack of breadth in the usual academic curriculum
E. an overuse of rhetoric

2  
 2. The author of the passage mentions Sophists primarily in order to

A. illustrate how a certain group’s rhetoric influenced their ability to influence others
B. contrast one group’s ability to ascertain the truth from language to another group’s ability to do the same
C. argue that past intellectuals were more innovative than present thinkers
D. explain how the Sophists were the first group to understand how language affects truth
E. identify an example of a group that was aware of the limitations of language

Sajjad1994 · Answer

Official Explanation

1. The author of the passage attributes students’ “incapacity to speculate or raise questions” (     Highlighted     ) in part to

The author points out the merits of the academic essay, but then proceeds to argue that it is this very structure that induces students to avoid experimentation and to discard observations that do not match their conclusions.

Answer: B

Sajjad1994 · Answer

Official Explanation

2. The author of the passage mentions Sophists primarily in order to

The author says that the Sophists were aware that language  “affects the truths that it can say or name,”  and then goes on to say that language’s apparatus affects how the truth will be made available. In other words, the Sophists are an example of a group who understood that the nature of language partially determines what it can communicate; therefore, different kinds of language have different limitations. 
  
  Answer: E

The purposeful use of language makes knowing possible. As the Sophists

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