MCAT Critical Analysis and Reasoning Skills Question 66: Answer and Explanation

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Test Information

Question: 66

1. The primary purpose of the passage is most likely to:

  • A. describe the analogy drawn by German anthropologists between botany and anthropology.
  • B. criticize 19th century German anthropologists for drawing inspiration from two mutually inconsistent schools of thought regarding natural science.
  • C. explain the views of 19th century German anthropologists regarding the proper approach to studying human beings in the context of natural science.
  • D. describe how 19th century German anthropology synthesized Kant's views on theology with Schelling's belief that science consists of a priori deductions of natural laws.

Correct Answer: C

Explanation:

C This is a Main Idea/Primary Purpose question.

A: No. This choice is too narrow. While the analogy described in the last paragraph is part of the author's discussion of the views of German anthropologists, it is one piece of evidence supporting the larger argument, not the main point or primary purpose of the passage as a whole.

B: No. This choice has the wrong tone. The author is not criticizing the anthropologists, but rather is giving a neutral description of their views and of some of the sources of those views.

C: Yes. This choice is broad enough to cover the content of the passage without going beyond its scope, and it has an appropriately neutral tone. Paragraph 1 introduces the idea that the anthropologists studied "humanity" and "natural peoples," as well as the idea that this study occurred within the larger context of natural science. The rest of the passage relates to the views of these German anthropologists, and/or sources of inspiration for those views.

D: No. While German anthropology was based on a synthesis of views of these two men (paragraph 2), this choice partially misrepresents the pieces from each that were synthesized. The anthropologists did follow Kant's "exclusion of theological considerations from natural science" (paragraphs 3 and 4). However, it was Kant, not Schelling, who believed that science consists of a priori deductions of natural laws, and the passage states that the anthropologists "would not have subscribed to the Kantian notion of science as the a priori deduction of mathematical laws" (paragraph 3).

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