#17 - 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!

[avengingangel]

So, I thought I was so smart for figuring out the answer to this question in almost no time at all, only to find out that it was INCORRECT (gasp!).

I think I was indeed moving at too fast of pace, and thought that it was asking what the author most clearly associates economic progress with... I quickly chose B, because, although I did of course read the part in the passage that said "Whig writers describe such virtue using a vocabulary of commerce and economic progress," I thought that couldn't be it because that's too dang easy! I thought, oh, this is one of those questions where they try to stump you and send you to the wrong area of the passage, because it's the most obvious place.. so, I chose B - FEDERALISTS, because of the sentences in the third paragraph talk about how it doesn't make sense to describe Jefferson attacking Federalist policy as echoing the Tory opposition because Jefferson is for the "right of all to participate in commercial society" -- AKA, Jefferson, and by association The Federalists, are more like the Whig writers (whom are most clearly associated with the use of economic progress)! So I was like, of course that the answer! You have to go one step further to figure out the correct answer.

But alas, my intended diligence did not serve me too well. I guess, my main question is, even when re-considering that the question stem is talking about Pocock's association (& not the author's), how do you know that C is the correct answer, over B ?? My logic still seems to make sense to me..giving me the result that both B and C are both just as good of answer choices.

Thanks!

[David Boyle]

So, I thought I was so smart for figuring out the answer to this question in almost no time at all, only to find out that it was INCORRECT (gasp!).

I think I was indeed moving at too fast of pace, and thought that it was asking what the author most clearly associates economic progress with... I quickly chose B, because, although I did of course read the part in the passage that said "Whig writers describe such virtue using a vocabulary of commerce and economic progress," I thought that couldn't be it because that's too dang easy! I thought, oh, this is one of those questions where they try to stump you and send you to the wrong area of the passage, because it's the most obvious place.. so, I chose B - FEDERALISTS, because of the sentences in the third paragraph talk about how it doesn't make sense to describe Jefferson attacking Federalist policy as echoing the Tory opposition because Jefferson is for the "right of all to participate in commercial society" -- AKA, Jefferson, and by association The Federalists, are more like the Whig writers (whom are most clearly associated with the use of economic progress)! So I was like, of course that the answer! You have to go one step further to figure out the correct answer.

But alas, my intended diligence did not serve me too well. I guess, my main question is, even when re-considering that the question stem is talking about Pocock's association (& not the author's), how do you know that C is the correct answer, over B ?? My logic still seems to make sense to me..giving me the result that both B and C are both just as good of answer choices.

Thanks!

Hello,

It's important not to overthink things. Sometimes the "obvious" answer is the right one.
Anyway, answer B is not helpful, since we don't know exactly what the Federalists' policies were. All we know, from the passage, is that Jefferson's attack on the Federalists lacked some of the virtue-based ideas of the Tories.
So, answer C is best.

David

[andriana.caban]

Hi!

I'm a little confused as to why (c) is the correct answer choice. In fact, in the second paragraph, the author writes, "the language of Pocock...English political thought should be interpreted as a conflict...of the virtue central to civic humanism". Then, goes on to say that this virtue is described by Tory opposition. When discussing Whig writers, the author uses the phrase "on the other hand" indicating a disagreement between the author and whig writers.

Based on this, I chose (d). But, the Tories never mention "economic progress". Only English Whiggs did. The problem I have though is that it is unclear if Pockock associates (what I'm assuming to mean agree) with the "vocabulary of economic progress".

Can anyone help clear up this confusion?

[Robert Carroll]

Andriana,

There is no disagreement between the author and the Whig writers. As the author points out in line 26, the second paragraph is discussing rival versions of the virtue central to civic humanism. Line 27 ("on the one hand") gives the version of one of the rival groups, and line 32 ("on the other hand") gives the other version. The virtue is described by both groups, just in a different way by each (hence, "rival").

The second paragraph just gives us Pocock's interpretations, so when lines 32-34 tell us his interpretation of Whigs is that they described the virtue using the vocabulary of economic progress, that validates answer choice (C).

Robert Carroll