Logical Reasoning

PT128 · S2 · Q21 Cultural anthropological theory tends to

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Cultural anthropological theory tends to fall into two camps.

Information

Cultural anthropological theory falls into two camps:

1. focus on everyday behavior, which is a response to human needs in a given environment.

2. focus on systems of meanings that give way to thoughts, rituals, and mythology.

It should employ both of these and do a third, often neglected one:

3. see community as a set of individuals whose actions are the essence of everyday life.

Evaluate

That's a tough paragraph to grasp. There aren't any apparent Conditional, Causal, or Mathematical keywords to make us think in those directions.

There is a Pivot (however), and there is an implicit Comparative dynamic to it. So the answer will probably have something to do with comparing these three approaches to each other.

Atypically, there is also a normative opinion! The paragraph says cultural anthropologists should employ both and also use this third neglected dimension.

Goal

We could probably say something like the author thinks that , or that .

But this one seems hard to anticipate. We'll just look for the most provable answer.

21.

Which one of the following statements is most strongly supported by the information above?

  1. Patterns of social behavior have

    Too Strong: only when

    The author wants anthropologists to use all three approaches. This answer makes it sound like they only respected the third, oft-neglected approach that deals with community. Nothing in this paragraph defines a harsh rule like, "If X isn't true, then patterns of social behavior have no meaning".

    1% picked this

  2. Cultural anthropologists too often rely

    Wrong Accusation

    Normally "too often" would sound too sneering or accusatory to be correct on Most Supported, but there is a little bit of scolding happening: "anthropologists should employ both approaches and attend to this neglected dimension". But the paragraph was never talking about anthropologists conception of human needs. The paragraph uses the term "human needs" in a sentence, but not a sentence that is discussing "how anthropologists conceive of human needs". The two sentences about anthropologists are about whether they choose to focus on social behavior as this sort of system or as that sort of system. The author is also never complaining that they've excluded the notion of community. All three approaches are studying the community. The neglected dimension was studying how individuals' actions make up the stuff of everyday life. Community is ... 1. a system developed in response to human needs in a given environment 2. a system of meanings by which thoughts / rituals / mythology are structured 3. a set of individuals whose actions make up the actual stuff of life

    14% picked this

  3. Cultural anthropological theorists who focus

    Out of Scope: overlook humanity

    The author doesn't get close to saying that theorists have been "overlooking the humanity of subjects". That would be like saying, "Hey, theorists --- you're completely de-humanizing these subjects". No accusation like that was being made. The last sentence is only suggesting that theorists are "overlooking the impact of individuals".

    7% picked this

  4. Systems of behavior can be

    Too Strong: only when

    The author wants anthropologists to use all three approaches. This answer makes it sound like he only likes the first approach. Nothing in this paragraph defines a harsh rule like, "If X isn't true, then systems of behavior cannot be understood."

    1% picked this

  5. Correct

    Disagreement among cultural anthropological theorists

    Why this is right

    This has very lovably weak language: does not necessarily imply. To support that "X does not necessarily imply Y", we only need a case in which X is true and Y doesn't seem to be true. So to support this answer, we would need to establish that "there is disagreement among cultural anthropological theorists" That seems fair. They tend to fall into two camps have not been employing both approaches. It's not a "disagreement" like a quarrel or a spat, but they seem to have differing sense of what theory should focus on, so they disagree about what cultural anthropological theory should be focused on. And then we need to establish that "their approaches are not incompatible" That's well supported by the author saying, "Cultural anthropologists should employ both approaches". The support for this answer doesn't include the final sentence at all, which is fine. The correct answer doesn't need to be supported by all the claims. It just needs to be adequately supported by any claim(s), or to be more supported than any other answer.

    Skill tested: Most Supported · how this choice captures the argument's function is the move to repeat next time.

    75% picked this

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