Q22

[nandy_millette]

I chose C for this because I disagree with the second part of answer choice D.

Answer choice D is saying that 1) Organicism is based on faulty theory and 2) Misrepresents that Analytic method.

I don't quite get part 2), based on line 51-56, I get that proponents of the Organicism method did not fully understand the Analytic method but I don't think that not understanding is the same as misrepresenting. Unless if I assume that not understanding a theory and saying that a theory is inadequate misrepresents the theory?? I dont know, can someone please explain this to me.

Also please explain why C is wrong.

[christine.defenbaugh]

Thanks for posting nandy_millette!

To really your teeth into a synthesis question like this, it's critical to have a strong sense of the big picture of the passage. The first paragraph sets up the scale by introducing the contrast between the analytic method and the response to it, organicism. Paragraph 2 simple defines and explains organicism.

The remaining three paragraphs offer criticism of organicism: paragraphs 3 and 4 outline two failures of the theory itself (that not all properties are defining characteristics and that the theory renders the acquisition of knowledge impossible). Paragraph 5 explores the fact that organicists misunderstood the analytic method from the beginning, and that as a result the initial justification for creating a new theory to begin with is questionable.

It is this final paragraph that distinguishes (C) from (D). You're right that the paragraph begins by pointing out that organicists misunderstood the analytic method. But why is that point raised? The author is trying to support a claim at the end of the paragraph that organicists offered no valid reason to reject the analytic method!

Essentially, the organicists believed that we needed to take complex systems into account in addition to investigating components separately. They assumed that the analytic method did not take those complex systems into account, since it separated components. They did not understand that the analytic method first "determined both the laws applicable to the whole system and the initial conditions of the system". So, the very thing they wanted to be taken into account (the complexity of the original system) WAS in fact being analyzed in the analytic method. When the organicists proposed a new theory on the basis of complexity, they implied that the analytic method had no way to assess the complexity of original systems. It was this initial justification for a new theory that contained an implied misrepresentation of analytic method.

Imagine if a friend of yours believed that it was super important to get enough Vitamin C in your diet. She criticizes your diet, as it has no oranges in it, and suggests that you should change over to *her* diet, because she eats 5 oranges every day. She is implying that you don't get enough Vitamin C. But you actually eat tons of other fruit with Vitamin C, and she doesn't understand that. Her misunderstanding of your diet lead her to misrepresent it - she implied, in her criticism, that you don't get enough Vitamin C, and that isn't true.

Remember that author isn't just mentioning the misunderstanding of analytic method as a random fact - it serves a larger point that the author is making about the failures of the organicists. Their misunderstanding was problematic because it undermined their own justifications for a new alternative method.

So, (D) captures the faults the author outlines in all three final paragraphs.

(C) is an accurate representation of the faults outlined in paragraphs 3 and 4, but completely ignores the issue raised in paragraph 5.


Let's take a quick look at the remaining answers choices:
(A) This simply describes the alternative that organicists offered, and ignores the problems with organicism outline in paragraphs 3-5.
(B) This points out the flaw mentioned in paragraph 3, but ignores paragraphs 4 and 5.
(E) This points out the flaw underscored in paragraph 5, but ignores the flaws mentioned in paragraphs 3-4.


Please let me know if this completely answers your question!

[MeenaV936]

I still don't understand why B is wrong and D is correct. How is organicism exactly a "faulty theory"?

Also, is this different than a main idea question because it says "most completely and accurately summarizes the argument"? How were we supposed to know to take every single paragraph into account, as opposed to just the main argument?

[ohthatpatrick]

Hey, no I don't think the funky question stem makes any difference. It's just a main point question. Most main point correct answers summarize the passage's argument (i.e. they usually have at least two claims in them). Some correct answers just state the conclusion, but that's more of a modern trend.

Main Point = Topic + Purpose

The topic was organicism vs. the analytic method.
The purpose was to defend the analytic method against organicism's attack.

(B) is a classic "True, but too narrow". It's referencing something that was discussed in the 3rd paragraph.

Main points are practically never in the middle. They're usually the end of the 1st / beginning of the 2nd paragraph, or in the last paragraph.

The 3rd paragraph begins with "one problem with [organicism] is ...",
whereas the 4th paragraph begins with "The ultimate difficulty with [organicism] is ..."

That second lead-in carries more weight, so we would rank what's being talked about in the 4th over what's in the 3rd (or ideally, have them both).

Then the 5th paragraph adds in some more stuff that's purely in the author's voice (i.e. super important to main point). She explains why organicism's criticism of the analytic method was off base.

So paragraphs 3 and 4 described "one problem with" and "the ultimately difficulty with" organicism.
That's the "relies on faulty theory" part of (D). ('problems' and 'difficulties' with a theory are 'faults' in that theory)

Paragraph 5 described why organicism's critique of the analytic method was off base.
That's the "misrepresentation of the analytic method".

When you're down to (B) and (D), you can ask yourself, "Which of these wraps its arms around more of the passage?"

Since the wording of (B) maps closely to the 3rd paragraph, whereas the broader wording of (D) allows us to match it up with the 3rd, 4th, and 5th paragraph, (D) is a stronger answer.