Reading Comprehension

PT153 · S4 · P4 · Q24 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argues that while "grand theories" once offered a comforting, deterministic explanation of history, they have become outdated and inadequate; instead, we should embrace a more nuanced historical perspective that acknowledges the particularity and unpredictability of events, even if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.

24.

Which one of the following most accurately describes the organization of the passage?

description of a group of
Bad Ending
The author's main purpose in writing this passage was to implore people to consider the perspective she offers in the final chunk of the passage, after the magical author's pivot word, "But". The final ingredient of the passage is telling the world about a historical perspective the author recommends, not "a series of examples illustrating the predictive accuracy of the grand theories" (which the 2nd paragraph told us ended up not having predictive accuracy, after all)
2% picked this
explanation of the decline in
Bad Ending
The final ingredient of the passage tells the world about a historical perspective the author recommends we use now that grand theories have been "debunked"; it doesn't defend grand theories' logical coherence and rigor.
6% picked this
Correct
identification of the mistake common
Why this is right
"Alternative theoretical perspective" sounds like the final ingredient we were looking for. The final four sentences are all about an alternative perspective, beginning with: Perhaps what is needed is a historical perspective that ... Does the first half of this answer work? Kind of. What is the mistake common to grand theories? It doesn't seem very easy to isolate some one thing the author thinks tank all grand theories, but we could potentially say it's "historical determinism". The first paragraph ends with the notion that all grand theories tend toward historical determinism. And given that the alternative theoretical perspective at the end is all about embracing contingency (the opposite of determinism), we can make this work.
Skill tested: Organization · how this choice captures the passage's function is the move to repeat next time.
73% picked this
summary of the history of
Bad Ending
The final ingredient of the passage is where the author says, "Now that grand theories are behind us, but we still want the feeling we got from grand theories, what do we do? How should we think?" So the final part of the passage is not speculating the future of grand theories, it's talking about how we should think about history now that we've retired grand theories.
16% picked this
identification of the essential features
Bad Ending
The final ingredient of the passage is where the author says, "Now that grand theories are behind us, but we still want the feeling we got from grand theories, what do we do? How should we think?" Nothing in the final paragraph is discussing salient differences between this grand theory and that grand theory.
2% picked this

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