#20 - Global Reference, Must Be True, Purpose/Function

[Administrator]

Complete Question Explanation

The correct answer choice is (B).

Answer choice (A):

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

Answer choice (C):

Answer choice (D):

Answer choice (E):


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

[akanshachandra]

I don't quite understand why B is superior to E, I feel that it correctly describes how due to the "resistance of the medieval church to vernacular translations of the Bible" (lines 51-53) can be exemplified in E, whereas B, though seeing the merit in it, doesn't describe the reason behind the analogy. The reason why the bible was given as analogy was to describe how just like the bible which wasn't translated - it was inaccessible to the public, kind of like an early law code.

[nicholaspavic]

Hi akansha!

This is a great question. Let's start out by looking specifically at the passage and what it's attempting to convey. The opening paragraph discusses literary Greek culture, but by line 20, it has narrowed to a criticism of Goody's explanation of Ancient Greece's position as a "law giver." The remainder of the passage is dedicated to an explanation of how that perception "which has captured the imaginations or scholars like Goody" is in fact, not a complete explanation in order to fully understand Ancient Greece's legal system. The author then supplements his criticism of Goody's and others' views with facts and theories about why Goody's approach does not explain everything. In other words, the author does not say that we can never understand Ancient Greece's legal sysytem, only that Goody has a limited approach to the problem and fails to consider all the relevant information.

Now let's compare the wording of the two answer choices in order to better understand the dilemna, as they are both similarly phrased but turn on a very precise understanding of the language in both:

Answer (B) says: point out the weaknesses in a particular approach to understanding ancient societies

on the other hand,

Answer Option (E) states: convey the difficulty of accurately understanding attitudes in ancient societies

Here Answer (B) is the superior choice because most of the textual "real estate" after the first passage is ennumerating the flaws in Goody's approach. And so the language of (B) stating "point out weaknesses" nicely captures the passage's purpose. The author never suggests that his criticism of Goody is not a full and accurate understanding of the material or that it's impossible to articulate it. So Answer Option (E) is really overstating the purpose of the passage.

Thank you for the great question!

[mollylynch]

What makes C a worse answer than B?

[Jonathan Evans]

Hi, Molly,

The passage is not concerned with the "relationship between ancient and contemporary societies."

Instead the passage is concerned with an analytical framework for understanding the ancient societies themselves. To wit, some presuppose that literacy is both a prerequisite for democracy and causally contributes to its inception. They evidently make this mistaken assumption on the basis of retroactively mapping trends in contemporary societies on those of antiquity. However, the relationship between the ancient and the contemporary is immaterial.

I hope this helps!