BrainLab wrote:
Jorge: You won’t be able to write well about the rock music of the 1960s, since you were just an infant then. Rock music of the 1960s was created by and for people who were then in their teens and early twenties.
Ruth: Your reasoning is absurd. There are living writers who write well about ancient Roman culture, even though those writers are obviously not a part of ancient Roman culture. Why should my youth alone prevent me from writing well about the music of a period as recent as the 1960s?
Ruth responds to Jorge’s criticism by
(A) Challenging his claim that she was not in her teens or early twenties during the 1960s
(B) Clarifying a definition of popular culture that is left implicit in Jorge’s argument
(C) Using the example of classical culture in order to legitimize contemporary culture as an object worthy of serious consideration
(D) Offering an analogy to counter an unstated assumption of Jorge’s argument
(E) Casting doubt on her opponent’s qualification to make judgments about popular culture
OFFICIAL EXPLANATION
The arguments of Jorge and Ruth can be analyzed as follows: Jorge’s Argument: Premise: Rock music of the 1960s was created by and for people who were then in their teens and early twenties. Premise: You were just an infant then [in the 1960s]. Conclusion: You won’t be able to write well about the rock music of the 1960s. Ruth’s Argument: Premise: There are living writers who write well about ancient Roman culture, even though those writers are obviously not a part of ancient Roman culture. Premise: Why should my youth alone prevent me from writing well about the music of a period as recent as the 1960s? Conclusion: Your reasoning is absurd. Note that the question stem asks you to identify how Ruth responded. When two-speaker stimuli are combined with Method of Reasoning questions, you are typically asked to identify the reasoning of only one of the speakers (often the second speaker). However, you must still understand the argument of the other speaker as the answer choices often refer to it. Now let’s use the answer choices to discuss the structure of the argument.
Answer choice (A): Ruth does not challenge Jorge’s claim about her age. To the contrary, she seemingly admits he is correct when she says “Why should my youth alone...”
Answer choice (B): Although Ruth uses an example that cites culture, she does not clarify a definition of popular culture, and certainly not one left implicit in Jorge’s argument.
Answer choice (C): This is a Half Right, Half Wrong answer. The first part of the answer choice—“using the example of classical culture”—does occur in Ruth’s response, but she does not use that example “in order to legitimize contemporary culture as an object worthy of serious consideration.”
Answer choice (D): This is the correct answer. An analogy is a comparison between two items. In argumentation, analogies are often used to clarify the relationship between the items or reveal a fundamental truth about one of the items, as in “To better understand the operating system of your computer, think of it as the brain of your system.” The use of “brain” in the preceding sentence is the analogy. Analogies can be used to challenge a position or support a position, but their strength often rests on the relevant similarities between the two items or scenarios. In the next chapter we will discuss False Analogies, where an author uses an analogy that is dissimilar enough to be non-applicable. As referenced in this answer choice, Ruth analogizes writing about Roman culture to writing about the 1960s to show that it is not unreasonable that someone who was an infant can write about that time period. Jorge’s assumption is that if a person was not a teen or older during the 1960s, then they cannot write well about the music of that period. Since all elements described in the answer choice occur and the answer describes the method used by Ruth, this is the correct answer.
Answer choice (E): Ruth does not attack Jorge’s qualification to make his argument, just his pronouncement that she will not be able to write well about the rock music of the 1960s.
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09 Feb 2015, 08:18
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(01:27)
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