#16 - Author's Attitude

[lsatprep1215]

Can someone explain how is A correct? I actually don't know what to look for in this question. I chose D because of line 17 "Because ancient Greek writers themselves openly acknowledged their culture’s hybrid past, nineteenth-century European commentators habitually passed over these acknowledgments without comment.", it match with what D states: "concern that they fail to explain ancient Greek culture".

[Jeremy Press]

Hi lsatprep1215,

Thanks for your question!

The problem with using line 17 as your evidence here is that the studies being described in that line are the studies of "nineteenth-century European commentators." The author definitely thinks that those 19th-century commentators "fail to explain ancient Greek culture."

But, the question stem asks for a description of the author's attitude toward the studies mentioned in line 6. The studies in line 6 are the "recent studies" that have criticized writers like the nineteenth-century European commentators. The recent studies criticize those writers because the notion of Greek identity they discuss "was revised during the course of the nineteenth century to support an image of European cultural dominance."

The author supports the recent studies (and their criticism of the 19th-century writers). This is most clearly evidenced in the first sentence of the passage, which talks about how we are "learning to see the extent to which accounts and definitions of cultures are influenced by human biases and purposes." The recent studies are helping us to see how that bias influenced definitions of cultures. So, the author is favorable to the recent studies. That makes answer choice A ("overall agreement") the best answer here.

I hope this helps!

Jeremy

[lsatprep1215]

Thanks it helps a lot!