Two questions on Page 180 of RC bible

[Brandonhsi]

Hello,

Two questions (Vienna circle) on Page 180 of RC bible (2014):

I always have a hard time to answer these two question types: what author/character agree?, and what a term within the passage means? I am always lost in these two question types unless the passage is really easy to understand.

Should I do some Pre-phrasing before going into the answer choices? If yes, what Pre-phrasing do I need for these two types of question, and how could I come up a good pre-phrasing?

Thanks!

Brandon

[Nikki Siclunov]

Brandon,

In answering Author's Perspective or Subject's Perspective questions ("The author/Einstein/etc. would be most likely to agree with which one of the following statements about..."), you first need to identify where the author's (or the subject's) expresses their view on the concept introduced in the question stem. Then, you need to understand that these are modified Must Be True questions, so the correct answer choice must be a provable statement.

As we note in the explanation to Question 1, Einstein shared the Vienna Circle’s “decidedly empiricist attitude toward the pursuit of scientific truth” (lines 9 – 11), suggesting that he would find their emphasis on empirical knowledge to be “laudable.” But, as we learn at the end of the passage, Einstein later “departed from his positivist views to pursue less optimistic answers to the question of political, philosophical and scientific unity” (lines 15 – 17). It is likely, therefore, that he would regard the goal of presenting an unified vision of the world as too optimistic (i.e. as “ultimately unrealistic”).

The key to such questions is focusing on viewpoints and argumentation, as the correct answer choice will often be driven by contextual clues. Ideally, you'd have a general idea about what the author/subject would say about the concept mentioned in the stem. However, sometimes you may not be able to prephrase a good answer. If so, you must at least identify the section in the passage where the author/subject discusses the issue at hand.

Hope this helps!

[pbui5300]

Hello,

For the first question "It can be inferred from the passage that Albert Einstein would be most likely to agree...", can you explain why C is the correct answer one more time? When I read this answer choice I immediately eliminated it because the passage did not say anything about Vienna Circle's emphasis is laudable from Einstein's viewpoint. I thought this answer was irrelevant and provided new information so I crossed it out. Also, I thought the second half of the passage was the authors' viewpoint, and he just brought Einstein in as a support to his own argument. Apparently, my interpretation was missing something. Thank you in advance!

[Adam Tyson]

The latter part of that passage is still about Einstein's viewpoint, pbui5300. It's Einstein who had "departed from his positivist views" by the time the Vienna Circle learned that he had at some point agreed with them. The author is more of a reporter there, and they are not interjecting their own viewpoint.

You're right that the passage never explicitly tells us that Einstein found those views to be "laudable," but it's not unreasonable to think he would agree with that assessment, since he at first shared their views. Most people tend to think their views are worthy and good, or "laudable." Also, consider that their views were, according to the passage, somewhat optimistic, which has positive connotations, so the general tone is that the empiricist views they and Einstein held were good. It's just that Einstein later felt that they weren't realistic; apparently he got a little pessimistic about the world as time went on?

(For anyone looking for this passage in the 2021 edition of the RCB, you'll find it as mini-passage #1 on page 254)

[pbui5300]

I guess for this one I need to think further than what is given in the passage to draw the correct conclusion for this question. Thanks so much Adam!