Reading Comprehension

PT153 · S4 · P4 · Q22 Grand Theories

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Social historians have noted that European social and political thought of the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries was marked by the popularity of “grand theories,” influential intellectual movements such as Freudianism or Marxism that attempted to account for a broad range of historical phenomena with a single, ambitious explanation.

Topic

The rise, decline, and lingering attraction of grand deterministic theories (like Freudianism and Marxism) in European social/political thought, and a call for a more nuanced historical perspective.

Framework

Challenge Position (challenges the authority and universality of grand theories) Old/New (shifts from grand deterministic theories to a more nuanced, contingent view of history)

Main Point

The author argues that while "grand theories" once offered a comforting, deterministic explanation of history, they have become outdated and inadequate; instead, we should embrace a more nuanced historical perspective that acknowledges the particularity and unpredictability of events, even if this is less psychologically satisfying. The Most Valuable Sentence: The main conclusion is found near the end of the third paragraph:

P1: Introduction to Grand Theories

Social and political thought in 19th/early 20th-century Europe favored "grand theories" like Freudianism and Marxism, which tried to explain everything with one big idea (psychological or economic factors), leading to the belief that history is determined by universal laws.

P2: The Fall from Grace

Grand theories became so authoritative that questioning them was controversial, but their influence has faded as real-world events contradicted them and because their flaws became evident. They're now seen as limited products of their time, not universal truths.

P3: Our Lingering Desire for Grand Narratives & A Better Path

Even though we've discarded most grand theories, we still crave their promise of historical inevitability—this explains our "nostalgia for determinism." The author suggests that this intellectual discomfort might be good because it encourages us to focus on the unique, unpredictable nature of history. The new approach should appreciate the specific details of historical events, finding meaning in their complexity instead of forcing them into rigid, deterministic patterns.

22.

Which one of the following most accurately expresses the main point of the passage?

Social historians argue that grand
Wrong Emphasis: lacks author's view
The main clause of this answer is, "Social historians argue that grand theories are inadequate". They do, but this answer is just a factual description of what other people say. If our author said something himself, then the main point should be his sentiment, not other people's.
6% picked this
Grand theories were too deterministic
Wrong Emphasis: lacks view on New
This answer is expressed as though it's coming from the author's mind, so this is better than (A). Our author does think that grand theories were too deterministic. She doesn't say they failed to adequately explain the era of their time. She says, "As history has progressed [past the era in which they were developed], they have been revealed as products of their era, possessing inherent explanatory limitations". In other words, she thinks that they were pretty good at explaining phenomena that preceded them, but not good at accounting for everything that came after. More importantly, this answer lacks the author's view on the New, which is covered in the final paragraph. We'd expect to hear something like, "grand theories have been debunked, and that's a good thing, probably, because what we need is a new historical perspective that embraces contigency".
2% picked this
Though seductive in their logic
Out of Scope: universal truths
Most of this answer is saying true sentiments the author would probably endorse. But the author never said that grand theories failed to account for certain universal truths. Rather, grand theories purported to be universal truths themselves. The modern era of history has shown that these grand theories are not universal truths (and suggest that history does not proceed by any universal, deterministic rules). That's very different from saying that there are universal truths out there and grand theories just misdescribed them.
4% picked this
Correct
The decline of grand theories
Why this is right
This answer is very 3rd-paragraph heavy in its content, but that's where the author presented her assessment of the New world we're living in, so it makes sense for those ideas to get top billing. Her assessment? But perhaps this discomfort [of no longer having the cognitive satisfaction of grand theories] is no bad thing, for it might finally persuade us to relinquish the vain the hope for inevitability and hence restore us to the contemplation of historical contingency. Within this Most Valuable Sentence, we see most of the wording in this answer choice. Relinquishing a vain hope for inevitability = "the futility of viewing history as predetermined". The final sentence of the passage also uses language that connects with this answer. The author is saying that the decline of grand theories may allow for the possibility of us pursuing historical explanation without viewing history as fully determined.
Skill tested: Main Point · how this choice captures the passage's function is the move to repeat next time.
82% picked this
Though grand theories neglected to
Out of Scope: universal truths
Just like (C), this answer is poisoned by the fact that the author never said that grand theories failed to account for certain universal truths. The author doesn't think that there are universal truths. Grand theories failed to account for developments of the 20th and 21st centuries. Grand theories purported to be universal truths themselves. And the modern era of history has shown that these grand theories are not universal truths (and suggest that history does not proceed by any universal, deterministic rules).
5% picked this

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