#22- Global Reference, Must Be True

[Administrator]

Complete Question Explanation

The correct answer choice is (A).

Answer choice (A):

Answer choice (B):

Answer choice (C):

Answer choice (D):

Answer choice (E):

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

[ChicaRosa]

How is Passage A more abstract from Passage B?

For some reason I thought it was technical since the second paragraph of Passage A was going into more detail about factors that need to be considered to determine the outcome and the words,"input", "output", and the sentence, "to perform the complicated calculus necessary to understand how the complex interrelationships among the various variables should affect our ultimate conclusions."

Thanks!

[David Boyle]

How is Passage A more abstract from Passage B?

For some reason I thought it was technical since the second paragraph of Passage A was going into more detail about factors that need to be considered to determine the outcome and the words,"input", "output", and the sentence, "to perform the complicated calculus necessary to understand how the complex interrelationships among the various variables should affect our ultimate conclusions."

Thanks!

Hello,

"Technical" is not a bad answer, and I see what you mean. However, "abstract" may be a better answer.
One definition of "technical" is "of or relating to a particular subject, art, or craft, or its techniques." And one definition of "abstract" is "existing in thought or as an idea but not having a physical or concrete existence.". Passage A is vague enough, and talks about abstract ideas like an "omniscient being" enough, so that "abstract" is a good way to describe the passage. If Passage A was more specific about "input", "output", and "complicated calculus", e.g., if it threw out a bunch of statistics about the average number of years in poverty it supposedly took to sour someone's outlook so that they were more likely to commit a crime, say, then that might be considered more "technical" than "abstract". But Passage A is sort of vague and general.

David

[valentina07]

How is "Adversarial" wrong?

I understood Passage A to be arguing against cosmic justice in human law and Passage B to be clarifying the difference between traditional justice and cosmic justice. I don't see how A was more abstract when B says it is talking about "concepts" in the very first sentence.

[Luke Haqq]

Hi valentina07!

To your first issue, there'd need to be something more in the Passage A, something that reveals more criticalness or an adversarial attitude by the author towards Sowell. As it stands, however, the passage barely gives us a picture of Sowell. All it tells us is how he defines "cosmic justice." The author does have some skepticism about whether that type of justice can be instantiated in practice, but this isn't directly attacking Sowell.

To your second issue, while Passage B does mention concepts in the first sentence, it gives them traction in the remainder of the passage. Namely, it discusses some specifics about how traditional justice and cosmic justice can be seen in the processes of trials and in punishments. Passage A doesn't get to that level of detail.