Which one of the following is most closely analogous to the debate described in the hypothetical example given by the...

shunhe on July 9, 2020

Hi @avif,

Thanks for the question! So we’re asked here to find something analogous to the debate described in the hypothetical example given by the author in the fourth paragraph. So what’s going on in the fourth paragraph? Well, we are told about a debate between adherents of different religions about the creation of the universe. And each religion bases its argument on its sacred text. But we can’t resolve the conflicts by just referring to the texts (since showing a Buddhist the Bible probably wouldn’t convince them). So we need to look into the authority of the texts themselves; we need to look at some other source.

So we need something that parallels this. Two people who have drawn differing conclusions on an issue, relying on two different sources, and having to bring in some third source in order to get to the actual answer. So now take a look at (E). Here, we have a debate between two historians who draw conflicting conclusions about the same event based on different types of historical data. Again, two people who have drawn differing conclusions on an issue (some historical event). Relying on two different sources (different types of historical data). And finally, showing one historian the other historian’s evidence probably won’t get them to change their mind, we’ll need to go to another source, possibly the authority of their data. And so (E) is the best analogy for the fourth paragraph, and the correct answer.

Hope this helps! Feel free to ask any other questions that you might have.

avif on July 10, 2020

Thanks.

shunhe on July 13, 2020

Glad to help.