#13 - Concept Reference, Must Be True, Author's Perspective

[hfsports429]

Hi,

I was wondering about #13-Which one of the following best describes the author's opinion of most modern academic theories of common law?

The correct answer, B, I thought was a little too strong. What line provides the most support for this answer?

Thanks!

[David Boyle]

Hi,

I was wondering about #13-Which one of the following best describes the author's opinion of most modern academic theories of common law?

The correct answer, B, I thought was a little too strong. What line provides the most support for this answer?

Thanks!

Hello hfsports429,

"Yet the academic study of jurisprudence has seldom treated common law as a constantly evolving phenomenon rooted in history; those interpretive theories that do acknowledge the antiquity of common law ignore the practical contemporary significance of its historical forms. . . . In theoretical terms, modern jurisprudence has consistently treated law as a unified system of rules that can be studied at any given moment in time as a logical whole. . . . In political terms, believing in the logic of law is a necessary part of believing in its fairness; even if history shows the legal tradition to be far from unitary and seldom logical, the prestige of the legal institution requires that jurisprudence treat the tradition as if it were, in essence, the application of known rules to objectively determined facts. To suggest otherwise would be dispiriting for the student and demoralizing for the public."

Hope this helps,
David

[lilmissunshine]

Hello,

Could you explain why (D) is incorrect as opposed to (B)? Thanks a lot!

[Adam Tyson]

Answer D looks to be an opposite answer, lilmiss, because the author tells us that modern law is heavily dependent on the old-school approach to common law, which views it as a set of rules to be studied and followed instead of, as Goodrich suggests, a constantly evolving tradition. Early in the passage we were told that students are "frequently required to study medieval cases, to interpret archaic Latin maxims, or to confront doctrinal principles" in order to learn, understand, and apply the rules of common law. That's not excusing them from studying those important disputes, but demanding that they do so! Not even Goodrich advocates that those studies be abandoned, but only that the lessons learned from them be applied in different, more flexible and evolving ways.

Those opposite answers can be pretty tricky at times, so be careful and gather your evidence to support your answer choice. Don't be fooled!

[ataraxia10]

Why is C incorrect?

[Jay Donnell]

Hi ataraxia!

This question requires extra careful attention as to whom or what the author is holding their opinion upon. Here, we are asked for the author's opinion regarding "most modern academic theories of common law."

There are two claims in paragraph two that show answer choice C to essentially be the opposite of what happened in the passage.

"those interpretive theories that do acknowledge the antiquity of common law ignore the practical contemporary significance of its historical forms. The reasons for this omission are partly theoretical and partly political."

This would imply that the modern theories that ARE studied don't 'overemphasize the practical aspects', rather they seem to ignore them altogether.


This is a fairly nasty passage and I often find myself lost in the middle as to exactly just what in the heck is going on, but the core idea of the author's perspective in the first half is that modern academics focus too much on the theoretical and not enough on the practical significance of common law. That idea is what supports answer choice B, and essentially eliminates answer choice C.

Hope that helps!

[ataraxia10]

Thank you!

[lsater180]

Hello!

I initially eliminated B because I wasn't confident if the author alluded to the "accuracy" of common law. Of course, understanding common law as a constantly evolving phenomenon while maintaining its tradition/history might be a "fruitfully studied" (41) or "proper" (14) way, but I view accuracy more as a factual, objective standard.

Hence I chose C because I thought the second paragraph talks about how modern jurisprudence emphasizes a unified system, coherence, and prestige of the legal institution, (+and not to dispirit student or the public) which I thought could be considered practical, as in how it could be applied easily in real life without dissonance or disturbance to the public. By overemphasizing these aspects, these modern theories neglect the theoretical grounds, like its tradition or history.

Could you please correct where my reasoning went wrong? Thanks in advance!

[lsater180]

Hello I've been struggling with this question for the last few days Can I get help on this?

Hello!

I initially eliminated B because I wasn't confident if the author alluded to the "accuracy" of common law. Of course, understanding common law as a constantly evolving phenomenon while maintaining its tradition/history might be a "fruitfully studied" (41) or "proper" (14) way, but I view accuracy more as a factual, objective standard.

Hence I chose C because I thought the second paragraph talks about how modern jurisprudence emphasizes a unified system, coherence, and prestige of the legal institution, (+and not to dispirit student or the public) which I thought could be considered practical, as in how it could be applied easily in real life without dissonance or disturbance to the public. By overemphasizing these aspects, these modern theories neglect the theoretical grounds, like its tradition or history.

Could you please correct where my reasoning went wrong? Thanks in advance!

[Jeff Wren]

Hi lsater,

It looks like for both answer B and C you've used your own view/interpretation of certain words rather than relying on the passage. You'll want to be careful to generally avoid this in Reading Comp as it can get you into trouble.

First, if you haven't read Jay's earlier post above, I'd suggest checking it out as it addresses some of your questions.

This question is asking about the author's opinion on most modern academic theories of common law.

Before looking at the answers, it is a good idea to prephrase. What we can tell from the passage is that the author is negative/critical of these theories because they fail to consider how common law has developed/changed over time. In fact the correct answer (D) to question 7, which asks for the Main Point, addresses this. I mention this because correctly understanding the main point of the passage can often help shed light on other questions about the passage.

With this prephrase in mind, Answer B most closely matches this prephrase. The theories lack an essential dimension (i.e. the key thing that they are missing or failing to consider) that would increase their accuracy. Here, "accuracy" is referring to the academic theories of common law, not common law itself, so a theory would be considered more "accurate" if it better explains, better captures the truth, or is more useful/fruitful, etc.. While there are definitely times in which one word will make an entire answer wrong, this isn't it.

In the beginning of paragraph two, the author states that these modern theories 'ignore the practical contemporary significance of its historical forms" (lines 20-21). This is how "practical" is being used in the passage, so for our purposes, these theories are not "practical" as that term is being used in the passage.

Instead, the paragraph provides theoretical and political reasons for why these theories ignore the practical implications. Line 23 begins, "In theoretical terms." Everything that follows until line 30 falls under "theoretical." Line 31 begins "In political terms" and everything following until the end of the paragraph falls under "political." What you've listed as practical the passage has listed as theoretical or political. (While it's true that not demoralizing the public may seem "practical" in the real world, for example, in the passage this is a political consideration, not a practical one.)