General Principle

A principle or general principle is a fundamental truth or proposition that serves as the foundation for a chain of reasoning. In this case, the historian's principle is: "Alexander the Great should not be judged by appeal to current notions of justice." This is the proposition that she uses as the foundation of her reasoning. Hope that was helpful! Please let us know if you have any other questions.

Why is the answer E?

Hi there, thanks for your post. This is a Method of Reasoning question. The question stem asks specifically about the method of reasoning used by the student in response to the historian. The historian argues that Alexander the Great should be judged by the standards of his own culture. The questions we should endeavor to answer, says the historian, are whether Alexander the Great lived up to his culture's ideals of leadership, and whether he elevated the contemporary standards of justice. The student responds that there is no way to answer the second question (i.e., whether Alexander the Great elevated the contemporary standards of justice) without looking beyond Alexander the Great's own culture. In other words, the student claims that one of the historian's criteria (elevating contemporary standards of justice) is inconsistent with the principle that the historian has advanced (i.e., that one should be judged by the standards of one's own culture). Hope this helps. Please let us know if you have any additional questions.

why is B incorrect

@neel116 B makes sense to pick! However, the student is showing that the statements about ATG are inconsistent with the principle of judging him by his time, not that there are consequences of the principle inconsistent with each other. It's about the relationship between the statements and principle, rather than the relationship between the consequences of the principle.

Could you please rephrase student's argument? I don't see how it connects to historian's principle. Thank you.

Thanks @Mehran for the explanation.