Q10 - Critic: Some writers have questioned

[jionggangtu]

why E not B?

[maryadkins]

The Critic tells us that the writers describe Stalin as morbidly suspicious in order to support their theory that he wasn't sane during his last years. And then the Critic counters ("But...") with another explanation for his vindictiveness and secrecy: it's just how all tyrants are.

So the writers think he was a jerk because he was insane. The critic thinks he was because he was a tyrant. The disagreement isn't about whether he was or wasn't; it's about the reason for why. (E) gets at this.

(A) is out of scope. The argument isn't about whether Stalin should be held guilty or not.

(B) is just off. The Critic could agree that the deeds provide evidence for morbid suspiciousness. In fact, he does (see the last two sentences). The issue is whether that in itself comes from insanity, or from being a tyrant. (B) misses the mark... that is the critical distinction.

(C) is wrong because no one compares his paranoia to his cruelty to determine his sanity.

(D) is wrong because the writers don't talk about tyranny and what it leads to.

Hope this helps!

[OscarD100]

The writers say that morbid suspiciousness explains Stalin's misdeeds.
The critic says that morbid suspiciousness has to be a characteristic of tyrants.

The answer E states that the writers and the critic disagree over whether it was Stalin's psychological state (being morbidly suspicious) or rather his political condition (being a tyrant) that was the primary cause of his cruel misdeeds.

No one says that Stalin's political condition (of being a tyrant) either caused him to commit cruel misdeeds or caused him to be morbidly suspicious and consequently to commit cruel misdeeds.

The critic says that morbid suspiciousness is a characteristic that tyrants possess, they don't say that it is something that tyrants possess because they are a tyrant. Stalin could have possessed that trait before he was a tyrant and it could be the case that his psychological condition (of morbid suspiciousness) was the primary cause of his cruel misdeeds, and also a factor that allowed him to be a tyrant.

The critic says it is necessary to be morbidly suspicious in order to be a tyrant, but he doesn't say that it is Stalin's political condition (of being a tyrant) that is the primary cause of cruel misdeeds.

Please help me figure this out!

[a8l367]

Writers: S is insane in later years due to paranoia or MS
Critic: MS was all time, so it tyrant's feature

IMHO they disagree about whether MS is the reason for insanity

BUT answer is that whether phych state or polit cond was the reason of MISDEEDS.

So, wtf we are talking about misdeeds at all?

Please explain