#6 - Concept Reference, Must Be True

[Administrator]

Complete Question Explanation

The correct answer choice is (C).

Answer choice (A):

Answer choice (B):

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

Answer choice (D):

Answer choice (E):

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

[ngreen221]

Hi PS,

I'm somewhat disappointed with my performance on this passage as it seems pretty straightforward. I did the passage with a time limit of 11 minutes, in between relaxed and focused, and I missed 3 out of 7 mostly due to small words that changed the meaning of a sentence in the passage.

An example of this is question 6. I marked D as the correct answer and saw that C is actually the correct answer. I misread lines 32-33 "but he did not hope by his action to force a change in national policy." So I can see how D is incorrect, but I am struggling to find support for C. I am mainly looking at the viewpoint in lines 26-27 "Thoreau, like most other transcendentalists". Is answer choice C correct because most does not include all or is there further support in the passage?

[James Finch]

Hi N. Green,

I would look to the final sentence of the third and the entirety of the fourth paragraph for support for (C) (lines 34-59). Thoreau didn't believe in using civil disobedience to effect legal changes, but other Transcendentalists did, specifically around the Fugitive Slave Act. This means that Thoreau's work must have differed significantly from other Transcendentalists, at least on this one issue. (C) isn't the clearest way to phrase that inference, but it is making the same point.

Hope this clears things up!

[ngreen221]

Thanks James!

[sdb606]

I'm having trouble seeing why C is right and D is wrong.

Thoreau didn't believe in using civil disobedience to effect legal changes

But it says in the first paragraph that Thoreau accepts violence as a form of protest which means he accepts the legitimacy of protest. What other reason could he have to accept the legitimacy of protest other than to affect change of some kind? This would suggest C is wrong.

As for D and Thoreau advocating for civil disobedience to change government policies on war, the passage says:

As a protest against the Mexican War, Thoreau refused to pay taxes, but he did not hope by his action to force a change in national policy. While he encouraged others to adopt similar protests, he did not attempt to mount any mass protest action against unjust laws.

Two things:

1) While he did not hope to force change, he still encouraged others to adopt similar protests, suggesting he was interested in change. What other reason could he have for encouraging others to join in?

2) As for not mounting any mass protest action, that didn't mean he didn't advocate for civil disobedience. It means he didn't do it himself.

[Jeremy Press]

Hi sdb,

So as you note, the passage says quite explicitly that "he did not hope by his action to force a change in national policy." And the logical implication you're reading here is fighting against this statement, and fighting it hard. The phrase "did not hope by his action" is a broad one, that would include all the logical outcomes of his action, including the outcomes of things inspired by his action (like other protests). So "forc[ing] the federal government to change its policies on war" just wasn't in Thoreau's sights.

The answer to your first question ("What other reason could he have for encouraging others to join in?") is a simple one, and it's found in the passage: "Thoreau, like most other transcendentalists, was primarily interested in reform of the individual." He wanted individuals to reform themselves. Why? I'm not sure. Maybe because he thought that would change institutions. Maybe because he just thought individuals could live fuller, richer lives that way. I don't know. Don't carry that information any further than the passage lets you.

I'll also point out that answer choice C has pretty indisputable support, as evidenced by this part of the passage: "in many other transcendentalist writings, including works by Ralph Waldo Emerson and Margaret Fuller, King would have found ideas more nearly akin to his own." The author clearly thinks King and Thoreau's philosophies are different ("King would not have agreed with many other aspects of Thoreau's philosophy"). And if these other transcendentalists' works would have included ideas more nearly akin to King's (than Thoreau's), then their ideas (their philosophies) had to contain certain elements different from Thoreau's.

I hope this helps!