#24 - Global Reference, Must Be True, Organization

[Administrator]

Please post your questions below!

[lathlee]

Hi. Organization question is always one of the more difficult questions for most test takers. anyways, I have a big problem with phrase of c)... identification of the mistake common to a group of theories....." the remaining part, I agree but I cannot agree that passage state all the theories talked about, Sigmund Freud's and maxim and historical determinism share a common mistake according to the author of this passage... where are they?

[Adam Tyson]

Check these lines, lathlee:

as history has progressed, they have been revealed as products of their era, possessing inherent explanatory limitations, rather than the universal truths they purported to be.

That's describing the problems with those grand theories, the mistakes they made.

Here's my prephrase for this question:

"Some old theories, problems with them, nostalgia, possibility for a change."

Answer C is imperfect in that it is incomplete, but it doesn't introduce anything new that wasn't part of my prephrase, so it's not awful. I'll keep it as a contender.

Another way to approach these questions is to eliminate answers that don't follow from the facts of the passage. That gets rid of answer A (no example showing their accuracy), answer B (no defense of the theories), answer D (no speculation regarding their future), and answer E (no discussion of the differences between them).

Always start with your prephrase, then sort losers and contenders, then pick the best answer from among the contenders. Never let yourself get hung up on finding perfect answers! Don't waste time trying to pick apart an answer that is clearly better than the others!

[sumzsl]

Hi Adam,

What would speculation regarding the future of the group of theories look like? Was it that the author talked about the demise of grand theories at present (in recent years) and while the author advocated for the historical contingency approach, didn't say that in the future grand theories would be completely obsolete or they'd make a comeback?

Thanks!

[Jeremy Press]

Hi sumzsl,

You've got it exactly! The passage concludes the discussion of grand theories by noting "the decline" of them, something that has happened in the past and up to the present. The author never speculates what will become of such theories in the future. If answer choice D were correct, the passage would make a future prediction about the group of grand theories: that they will be forgotten; or that they will be viewed as historical curiosities that are irrelevant to future theoretical approaches; or that they will be resurrected and become popular again, etc.

I hope this helps!

Jeremy