#8 - Historian: A democracy’s citizens must know some

[Administrator]

Complete Question Explanation

Assumption. The correct answer choice is (E).

Answer choice (A):

Answer choice (B):

Answer choice (C):

Answer choice (D):

Answer choice (E): This is the correct answer choice.

This explanation is still in progress. Please post any questions below!

[ashutosh_73]

I was down to A and E.
Only difference between two of them is of ''Awareness''
A says Historical awareness, while E says ''History''. is that what makes E a better option?

[money20]

So I got down to B and E and chose B at the end. My reasoning for this was that the link between inevitable distortion and narratives need to be "bridged". I used the negation and what I got was that "Historical cast in the narrative does not distort historical reality". I thought this negation broke apart the argument which is why I chose it. Can I please know why B is wrong and E is right.

[Luke Haqq]

Hi ashutosh_73!

Yes, you point out a key difference that makes answer choice (E) superior to (A).

The conclusion of this stimulus is that "popular historical awareness is inevitably distorted." Why does the author conclude this? The author reasons that popular historical awareness is shaped by the view that all of history is shaped by a few famous heroes and notorious villains.

However, what if all of history was indeed shaped by a few heroes and villains? This is what (E) gets at, and we can confirm that answer using the Assumption Negation technique. Negated, that answer choice would be "The implication that a few famous heroes and notorious villains have shaped all of history [does not] distort history." If that were true, then the historian's argument that popular historical awareness is distorted falls apart (because it would suggest popular historical awareness may be accurate). Since its negation makes the argument fall apart, that confirms that (E) is an assumption on which the argument depends.

[Robert Carroll]

money20,

Answer choice (B) is far too strong for this Assumption question. The author is not saying that the narrative format per se distorts. The author is making the more qualified claim that narrative implying that a few famous heroes and notorious villains have shaped all of history distorts. So answer choice (B) is more than the author needs to assume.

I also think you need to be careful with your negation of answer choice (B). The negation would be "History cast in the narrative format does not inevitably distort historical reality." So the negation isn't saying that a narrative format doesn't distort; it instead expresses the much weaker claim that such a format doesn't inevitably distort. That's compatible with the stimulus, because something that doesn't inevitably happen may still happen. So the argument survives.

Robert Carroll

[saimamidala23@gmail.com]

I got this one right but I still am not completely sure why. I was between A and E and ultimately correctly selected E, but why is A wrong? Is it because the stimulus doesn't directly imply that there have "only been a few" famous heroes/villians? (rather it says a few shaped all of history which I guess isn't the same thing?) My issue with E was that at the end it says "distorts history". But it says it distorts historical awareness, not history directly. How is this distinction not enough for this one to be wrong?

[Dana D]

Hey Saimamidala,

When looking at assumption questions, the correct answer is going to be something that is not already in the stimulus, but rather an unstated assumption upon which the argument relies. In this case, Answer choice (A) is just restating the second sentence.

What we need to understand for this argument to make sense is why people learning history through these narratives that imply a few famous heroes and villains "inevitably distorts historical awareness." How can one draw that conclusion? The answer is choice (E), which says that this implication distorts history itself, and therefore it makes sense that historical awareness is distorted. We're learning a warped version of history, and so our awareness of what history actually consists of is also influenced and distorted.

[domthedestroyer]

Here are the reasons I ended up eliminating choices A - D on my blind review:
A - The choice stops at there being only a few famous heroes or villains. The stimulus, however, mentions not just that a few heroes and villains exist, but that they shape history. Choice A mentions nothing about shaping history and thus misses the point. Eliminate.
B - Similar to A, we don't have enough info to make this claim because we're not just talking about any "narrative format", we're talking about those narrative formats that have the specified implication of heroes/villains shaping history. Get rid of.
C - We don't know anything about MOST historical narrative. We only know how MOST people learn history which is through certain popular narratives. It could be true that a 99%of historical narratives sustain interest some other way but still that most people learn history from the 1% of historical narratives that sustain interest in the way specified by the stimulus. Delete delete.
D - It could be true that narratives could have a purpose of sustaining readers' interest AND convey an undistorted awareness of history as long as the means of securing that interest is NOT from implying that a few heroes and villains have shaped history. The issue with the narratives is the WAY in which they sustain interest, not in the FACT that they sustain interest. On to the next.
E - The only answer left. If you negate the answer (IT IS NOT TRUE that the implication that a few famous heroes and notorious villains have shaped all of history distorts history.) the argument crumbles because you can''t reach the conclusion that "popular historical awareness is inevitable distorted. "

Hope this helps. Experts let me know if I've erred in any way.

[Jeff Wren]

Hi dom,

Your analysis looks solid, excellent work!

The only point that I will add is that, since the conclusion of this argument contains "new" information (the idea of historical awareness being distorted is not discussed in the premise), this assumption question is likely to be a Supporter assumption that closes the gap between the new information in the conclusion and the information provided in the premise. While several answers mention historical awareness being distorted, only Answer E correctly links this concept back to the premise.