#12 - Must Be True, Purpose

[Nina]

why is answer A incorrect? especially when "vagrant, fancies" imply "wild", and "undisciplined mind" implies "emotion"?

thanks a lot!

[Steve Stein]

In this case, wandering and undisciplined does not equate to wildly emotional (although answer choice A is certainly a clever one). Here, however, the author is referring to impractical considerations--considerations that the pragmatists believe should be secondary.

I hope that's helpful! Let me know whether that clears it up--thanks!

~Steve

[Nina]

Thanks! it makes much more sense to me right now

[ataraxia10]

I chose E. In hindsight, I can see how B is better supported due to the words "pragmatists," "useless," and "serve no immediate and technological function" that follow after quote in question. But I would greatly appreciate better explanations on why E is incorrect. Is it because I am making unwarranted assumptions?

[James Finch]

Hi Ataraxia,

As you noted, the term in question is being used to impugn the practicality of the humanists, not their logical consistency. There isn't anything in the text that would imply that these humanists and their ideas are logically inconsistent (although they may well be, we just don't know) which means that answer choice (E) lacks any textual support. Without any textual support, it can't be the correct answer to this question.

Hope this helps!

[appletree]

Hello, I definitely see how B is correct because of the sentence that follows after, but still am unsure about choice A.

The part of the sentence before the vagrant fancies says "...humanists is interested in nothing more than emotion and sentiment..." Therefore, I thought that choice A was slightly closer to that.
So I am wondering what would allow me to full rule out A.

Thank you!

[Ryan Twomey]

Hey Appletree,

So we are trying to decide what the author is suggesting of the humanities with the author's use of the phrase: "vagrant fantasies of an undisciplined mind."

We first want to understand what the phrase "vagrant fantasies of an undisciplined mind" means in literal terms while using the context of the passage to make sure we are using the correct definition, as words often have multiple definitions. Vagrant in this case means to jump from place to place with no consistency, fantasy is dealing with something not based in reality, and then of an undisciplined mind is better left as is.

So to sum it up, we are looking for an answer choice that describes the humanities as something that jumps around from place to place not based in reality in those minds without discipline.

Then you just have to make the judgement call if excessively impractical or wildly emotional better fits that prephrase, and I would go with excessively impractical, as this rephrase doesn't necessarily have anything to do with emotion. Not based in reality and jumping around from place to place fits impractical more than emotional.

They were asking us what the author was suggesting with the use of this phrase, so you do not want to read TOO much into the surrounding text, remembering at the end of the day they are asking us to define this term. You do want to use the surrounding text to make sure you are coming up with the correct definition but not too much; it's such a balance. Make sure you are thinking about what each word means.

I hope this thought process helps, and I wish you all the luck in your studies.

Best,
Ryan