Reading comp PrepTest 115 · Section 1 · Question 15

Passage

Questions 13-20  .        Donna Haraway's Primate Visions is the most  . ambitious book on the history of science yet Remaining source text redacted.
Passage walkthrough
Passage Summary

Topic: Social Science


Paragraph 1

  • Paragraph note
    • Author's conclusion (Haraway's primatology book most ambitious feminist science history book)
  • Views, minor Meta-Structures, and the author's attitude
    • Comparisons, according to the author:
      • Haraway's book is a more ambitious feminist science history than any other book to date (first sentence)
      • Primates seem like us, so Haraway can use them to make conscious and unconscious projections of her beliefs about nature and culture (last sentence)
    • Author's attitude: "the most ambitious" (first sentence), "not only" (first sentence), "particularly apt vehicle" (last sentence), "they provide ready material" (last sentence)

Paragraph 2

  • Paragraph note
    • Author's support (Haraway argues the division between knower/object is masculine and colonial)
  • Views, minor Meta-Structures, and the author's attitude
    • Comparison, according to the author:
      • A distinction is drawn between the "traditional" division in scientific inquiry (between knower —scientist/historian — and object — nature/history) and Haraway's approach (miscellaneous human actors & creatures contribute to the knowledge of nature, which isn't singular) (first, fourth, and last sentences)
    • Author's attitude: "most radical departure" (first sentence)

Paragraph 3

  • Paragraph note
    • Author's support (Haraway's fragmented, unique writing style reflects her views)
  • Views, minor Meta-Structures, and the author's attitude
    • Comparison, according to the author:
      • A distinction is drawn between "traditional history" writing and Haraway's fragmented approach (third sentence)
    • Author's attitude: "iconoclastic" (first sentence), "unorthodox" (first sentence), "will not succumb" (second sentence), "fragmented" (third sentence), "familiar enough" (third sentence), "rarely been but into practice" (third sentence), "complex alternative" (last sentence)

Paragraph 4

  • Paragraph note
    • Author's support (Haraway ignores distinction between scientific theory/practice and social issues/beliefs)
  • Views, minor Meta-Structures, and the author's attitude
    • Comparison, according to the author:
      • A distinction is drawn between "internal" scientific issues and "external" scientific issues (second sentence)
    • Author's attitude: "equally innovative" (first sentence), "difficult to set aside" (second sentence), "simply ignores it" (third sentence), "one must shed a great many assumptions" (last sentence)

Main Point: By challenging traditional assumptions of science and adopting a unique writing style, Donna Haraway's Primate Vision is an innovative work of primatology and the most ambitious book on the history of science written from a feminist perspective.

Meta-Structure?

Innovative Subject: This passage adopts the Innovative [Subject] Meta-Structure.* This structure is usually reserved for passages about artists but can occasionally appear in passages about scientists, historians, philosophers, and others. In this case, we could call this an "Innovative Scientist" passage, as it's about a primatologist with some ambitious, unconventional ideas.

When a passage falls into the Innovative [Subject] Meta-Structure, the main point focuses on that innovation, as reflected in our main point above. Further, it's important to track whether and the extent to which the author approves of these innovations. In this passage, the author adopts a tone that suggests that the author truly admires Haraway's innovations, referring to her book as "the most ambitious book on the history of science yet written from a feminist perspective" (P1, S1), her writing style as a "complex alternative" to the traditional (P3, S4), and her analysis as "innovative" (P4, S1). The author does use some words that can have a neutral or even negative connotation, like "iconoclastic" (P3, S1) and "unorthodox" (P3, S1), and does make a concession that Haraway's writings could be considered by the more traditionally minded to be "distracting … bewildering … digressive" (P4, S4). However, on balance, the author seems to approve of Haraway's work.

*As is often the case with Innovative Subject passages, you could also reasonably call this passage an Old Approach/New Approach passage, characterizing Haraway's approach as the "new approach."

Comparison: The most prominent minor Meta-Structure is the comparison. As is often the case for passages that utilize the Innovative [Subject] Meta-Structure, the subject's innovations are frequently distinguished from the conventional approaches. The author distinguishes Haraway's approach from the traditional division between "active knower" and "passive object" in the second paragraph, distinguishes Haraway's writing style from the traditional style in the third paragraph, and distinguishes Haraway's topics from the traditional focus of scientific studies in the last paragraph. We should expect several questions about these.

Last Thoughts?The author uses many words and phrases that convey authorial opinions, so expect several questions about the author's attitude.

Question prompt

The passage suggests which Remaining source text redacted.
Why the credited answer is right

Credited answer: E

The notes below walk through why it fits the stem and how to eliminate the rest.

Question Type

Humanities

Strategy Overview

Refer to notes or what you highlighted/underline to locate where the passage discusses "traditional scientific approaches," and refer to the relevant part of the passage as needed to find that answer choice that must be true

Answer Anticipation

This question asks us about the "traditional scientific approaches to nature," which shouldn't be surprising on a passage about an Innovative Subject. After all, there must be some stodgy, old tradition that those innovators buck. Moreover, this passage repeatedly distinguishes the innovative Haraway's approach from that of traditional science. Direct comparisons like these are frequently useful in answering questions, so ideally, we should have them stored in our memory, highlighted, or annotated. If not, we can CTRL+F "tradition" to find these references.If we needed to review the passage, we should find multiple references to traditional practices. In the second paragraph, we learn that there is a "traditional disjunction between the active knower (scientist/historian) and the passive object (nature/history)" (P2, S1). In less academic language, that seems to suggest that those who study science or its history see themselves as distinct from the things they study. In the third paragraph, the author contrasts Haraway's writing with "traditional history," which focuses on narrative and cause-and-effect relationships (P3, S3-S4). And in the final paragraph, the author discusses the "deeply ingrained" separation of issues "internal" to science (like theory and practice) and issues "external" to science (like social issues, structures, and beliefs) (P4, S2-S4). The correct answer will likely reflect one of these.

Answer choices

  1. A
    Scientists have traditionally preferred Remaining source text redacted.
    Why choice A is not credited

    (A) Does this answer choice reflect the traditional approach's distinction between the studier and the subject studied, its focus on narrative and cause-and-effect relationships, or its separation between "internal" and "external" issues?

    Not quite. For that reason, we can eliminate — or at least table — (A) and advance to the following question.

    If we had to consider (A) more deeply before eliminating it, we could confirm that this isn't a traditional aspect of the scientific approach to nature. This reference may seem familiar enough. In the second paragraph, the author discusses a traditional desire to understand nature — "whether in order to tame it or to preserve it as a place of wild innocence" — is masculinist and colonialist (P2, S2). However, neither Haraway nor the author comments on whether scientists are more into taming or preserving nature.

    Another reason this answer choice can be quickly jettisoned is that our Innovative Subject never counters or challenges the claim made by this answer choice. The references to tradition in an Innovative Subject are typically there to provide contrast to the subject's innovations. A quick look at our notes or a reflection on the main point should reveal that Haraway did not innovate by arguing that science should preserve rather than tame nature.

  2. B
    Scientists have traditionally sought Remaining source text redacted.
    Why choice B is not credited

    (B) Does this answer choice reflect the traditional approach's distinction between the studier and the subject studied, its focus on narrative and cause-and-effect relationships, or its separation between "internal" and "external" issues?

    No. For that reason, we can eliminate — or at least table — (B) and advance to the following question.

    If we had to consider (B) more deeply before eliminating it, we could confirm that this isn't a traditional aspect of the scientific approach to nature. A quick reflection on our notes or main point should allow us to eliminate this answer choice. Countering the masculinist and colonialist aspects of Western culture was our Innovative Subject's bag (P2, S2), not the traditional approach to science.

  3. C
    Scientists have traditionally assumed Remaining source text redacted.
    Why choice C is not credited

    (C) Does this answer choice reflect the traditional approach's distinction between the studier and the subject studied, its focus on narrative and cause-and-effect relationships, or its separation between "internal" and "external" issues?

    Nope. Therefore, we can eliminate — or at least table — (C) and advance to the following question.

    If we had to consider (C) more deeply before eliminating it, we could confirm that this isn't a traditional aspect of the scientific approach to nature. A quick reflection on our notes or main point should allow us to eliminate this answer choice. Assuming that primates were active participants in the creation of knowledge was a way that our Innovative Subject distinguished herself from the traditional approaches of science (P2, S4).

  4. D
    Scientists have traditionally endeavored Remaining source text redacted.
    Why choice D is not credited

    (D) Does this answer choice reflect the traditional approach's distinction between the studier and the subject studied, its focus on narrative and cause-and-effect relationships, or its separation between "internal" and "external" issues?

    No. Therefore, we can eliminate — or at least table — (D) and advance to the following question.

    If we had to consider (D) more deeply before eliminating it, we could confirm that this isn't a traditional aspect of the scientific approach to nature. The second paragraph implies (through the phrase "not only") that science traditionally considers the role played by government officials and laborers in crafting scientific knowledge (P2, S4). So, claiming that scientists traditionally conceal these parties' roles is inaccurate.

  5. E
    Scientists have traditionally regarded Remaining source text redacted.
    Why choice E matches the stem

    (E) Does this answer choice reflect the traditional approach's distinction between the studier and the subject studied, its focus on narrative and cause-and-effect relationships, or its separation between "internal" and "external" issues?

    Yes! This reflects our anticipation that the traditional approach distinguishes the studier and the subject studied. Therefore, we can select (E) and advance to the next question. After all, this answer choice reflects the traditional approach mentioned in the second paragraph. Science traditionally minds the "disjunction," or distinction, between "the active knower (scientist/historian) and the passive object (nature/history)" (P2, S1). So, it must be the case that scientists traditionally regard themselves as separate and apart from nature.

What this tests

Question analytics

Based on historical answer selection rates for this question.

Answer choice distribution

  1. A 5%
  2. B 4%
  3. C 4%
  4. D 5%
  5. E Credited 81%

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