A theoretical framework facilitates conceptual organization of material and fruitful expansions of research. Many his...

rolltribe on July 14, 2015

Argument Completion or Argument Structure

Is this filed under the right category?

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Naz on July 21, 2015

This question has been filed under both Argument Structure and Argument Completion. You're correct, however, it should only be filed under Argument Structure.

Hope that helps!

JayDee8732 on October 7, 2017

Can you explain the correct answer

Mehran on October 9, 2017

Hi @JayDee8732.

The stimulus is structured as an argument, but the conclusion is missing. You can think of this, therefore, as a type of Main Point question.

What do we know from the stimulus?
Premise: A theoretical framework facilitates conceptual organization of material and fruitful expansions of research.
Premise: [For this reason,] many historians argue that historical analysis is done best within a theoretical framework.
Premise: But the past is too complex for all of its main trends to be captured within a theoretical framework.
Conclusion: Therefore . . . ?

The content and structure of the given premises indicates that the correct conclusion must say something about the inherent limitations of a theoretical framework when it comes to capturing ALL of the main trends in history.

This is exactly what answer choice (C) says: "even the best historical analysis done within a theoretical framework fails to capture all of history's main trends."

Hope this helps!

Zaviea-Gaynor on January 9, 2019

Can you explain this type of question?

Minerva on July 18, 2019

Hi, can you explain why B is incorrect? Thanks!

Irina on July 18, 2019

@Minerva,

(B) is incorrect because it is too strong of a statement. Taken all the statements in the stimulus as true, we cannot logically conclude that "theoretical frameworks are less useful in history than they are in ANY OTHER DISCIPLINE." We are given enough information about historical analysis to say that a theoretical framework is imperfect fit for historical analysis, but we have zero information about other disciplines. Perhaps, it is even less useful in art? We cannot answer this question solely based on our premises, thus making this answer choice incorrect.