#8 - CR, Must

[lsatnoobie]

I am so confused as to how the answer is B. I thought it was ONLY the language specialists who were able to understand Latin. Isn’t that who the question stem is referring to by saying “those scholars who analyze works WRITTEN in Latin”.

The other specialists, science law humanities, etc, do NOT understand Latin and therefore do not analyze works written in Latin... or so I thought? Can anyone please help clarify.

[Malila Robinson]

Hi lsatnoobie,
The question states: "The passage contains support for which one of the following statements concerning those scholars who analyze works written in Latin during the Renaissance?"
And as you mentioned the correct answer is B which states: "These scholars tend to lack the combination of training in both language and intellectual history that is necessary for a proper study of important and neglected Latin texts."

This answer comes from the part of the passage that states that the scholars of Latin tended to have narrow academic specializations which focused on interpreting and analyzing things like humanistic and literary writing, while leaving more specialized Latin works like theology, science, law and medicine to specialists in those fields. And those specialists did not necessarily have sufficient training in language as well as a specific field, like science or medicine, to be able to properly analyze the Latin works. This doesn't mean that they didn't know Latin at all, it just suggests that they were unable to follow/analyze the more difficult/confusing aspects of the written Latin because of their insufficient language training.

This is the part of the passage that I am referring to:
"Latin, the language of ancient Rome, continued during this period to be the dominant form of expression for English intellectuals, and works of law, theology, and science (10) written in Latin were, according to Binns, among the highest achievements of the Renaissance. However, because many academic specializations do not overlap, many texts central to an interpretation of early modern English culture have gone unexamined. Even the most (15) learned students of Renaissance Latin generally confine themselves to humanistic and literary writings in Latin. According to Binns, these language specialists edit and analyze poems and orations, but leave works of theology and science, law and medicine -- the very (20) works that revolutionized Western thought -- to "specialists" in those fields, historians of science, for example, who lack philological training. The intellectual historian can find ample guidance when reading the Latin poetry of Milton, but little or none (25) when confronting the more alien and difficult terminology, syntax, and content of the scientist Newton."

Hope this helps,
-Malila