Is Critical Analysis Just Fault-Finding?

[Alex_Sanders]

I keep encountering people who think "critical" means carping or fault-finding, and nothing more. So it would seem that the critic's pen, once mightier than the sword, has been supplanted by the ax. Yet I have always maintained that the critic has three duties: to write as well as a novelist or playwright; to be a teacher, taking off from where the classroom, always prematurely, has stopped, and to be a thinker, looking beyond his specific subject at society, history, philosophy. Reduce him to a consumer guide, run his reviews on a Web site mixed in with the next-door neighbor's pontifications, and you condemn criticism to obsolescence.

Based on the above paragraph, which of the following qualities was NOT mentioned/deemed essential by the author as a critique?

A Enlightening and instructional
B Original thinking
C Matter-of-fact attitude
D Philosophical insight

 

[DaveC426913]

This sure seems like homework. What do you think?

 

[lisab]

I keep encountering people who think "critical" means carping or fault-finding, and nothing more.

Ah well, so much for critical thinking - for those folks at least.

 

[Alex_Sanders]

This sure seems like homework. What do you think?

No, not homework, I'm trying to see whether there is something inherently different from people majoring in Liberal Arts and us engineering majors.

The correct answer is completely senseless. So may be I'm the odd one out.

 

[Jimmy Snyder]

Spoiler

Ans: C Matter-of-fact attitude
The author did mention:
A Enlightening and instructional "be a teacher"
B Original thinking "be a thinker"
D Philosophical insight "looking beyond his specific subject at society, history, philosophy"

 

[Alex_Sanders]

Spoiler

Ans: C Matter-of-fact attitude
The author did mention:
A Enlightening and instructional "be a teacher"
B Original thinking "be a thinker"
D Philosophical insight "looking beyond his specific subject at society, history, philosophy"

This is the problem.

The correct answer is not C. Hehehe.

My guess was C at first. But the liberal arts major said I was wrong.

Glad I'm not the weirdo here...

 

[Jimmy Snyder]

This is the problem.

The correct answer it not C. Hehehe.

My guess was C at first. But the liberal arts major said I was wrong.

Was a reason given?

 

[zoobyshoe]

Based on the above paragraph, which of the following qualities was NOT mentioned/deemed essential by the author as a critique?

I notice that the phrase "as a critique" is used here, when "in a critique" or "for a critique" would have been more felicitous. "...qualities...essential...in a critique," or "...qualities...essential...for a critique".

The way it is phrased causes you to wonder if "critique" is supposed to describe the author: "...the author as critique," in which case it should have been "critic":

"...which of the following qualities was not mentioned/deemed essential by the author as critic?" (i.e. in his capacity as a critic.)

It is not, strictly speaking, clear which was meant, and neither was clearly enough indicated that we could justify selecting one over the other. If your friend is a truly fascistic reading comprehensionist, he might be saying any choice is wrong since the question is, as written, syntactically "sprung".

Other than that, I can't see why it shouldn't be "C", like everyone else.

 

[Pythagorean]

I guessed C too, what the "right" answer? D?

 

[MarcoD]

I don't think the case for original/creative thinking is that good. So, if not C then B.

 

[JJHK]

I said B at first

 

[arildno]

I don't think the case for original/creative thinking is that good. So, if not C then B.

Agreed.
As for matter-of-fact attitude, isn't it important for a teacher to point to facts, i.e, what has actually been written?

 

[micromass]

I immediately thought B was the answer.

 

[Pythagorean]

Good point, it's a critique. No original research (or thinking) should enter in. It should be based on accepted mainstream so that there's SOME standard.

 

[Jimmy Snyder]

Good point, it's a critique. No original research (or thinking) should enter in. It should be based on accepted mainstream so that there's SOME standard.

You may be right that no original thinking should go into a critique. However, the question was "which of the following qualities was not mentioned?" Thinking beyond the specific subject was mentioned. If the answer is not C, then we must find where in the essay it mentioned matter-of-fact attitude. I'm still looking.

 

[micromass]

You may be right that no original thinking should go into a critique. However, the question was "which of the following qualities was not mentioned?" Thinking beyond the specific subject was mentioned. If the answer is not C, then we must find where in the essay it mentioned matter-of-fact attitude. I'm still looking.

I also didn't see where it mentioned original thinking. It mentioned that you need to be a thinker, but it didn't mention original thinking.

 

[Jimmy Snyder]

I also didn't see where it mentioned original thinking. It mentioned that you need to be a thinker, but it didn't mention original thinking.

I don't see how you can think "beyond" without original thinking.

 

[256bits]

D is the answer.
"looking beyond his specific subject at society, history, philosophy"
He might have philisophical insight, but not necessarily so, and only if his subject matter is philosophy.

A is necessary due to "to be a teacher" and "be a thinker"
B is necessary due to "taking off from where the classroom, always prematurely, has stopped" (implying 'the' something beyond rote and roster) and "to be a thinker"
C is necessary due to"to write as well as a novelist or playwright"

Do I win the prize?

 

[Jimmy Snyder]

C is necessary due to"to write as well as a novelist or playwright"

Novels are matters of fact?

 

[256bits]

Novels are matters of fact?

The act of writing a novel does entail some degree of knowledge of language and how words and phrases can be put together to form and convey an idea to the reader. It is a matter of fact that someone should have knowledge of sentence structure, and be aware of the usage of literary tools to communicate feelings and ambiance through words. Novelist and playwights attempt, sometimes with great success. The critic must also use these matters of fact in writing, to be successful.

 

[Gokul43201]

My guess was C at first. But the liberal arts major said I was wrong.

You should introduce this liberal arts major to the person who assigned that terrible, terrible paragraph for reading comprehension. I think they'll hit it off quite handsomely.

 

[Gokul43201]

The act of writing a novel does entail some degree of knowledge of language and how words and phrases can be put together to form and convey an idea to the reader. It is a matter of fact that someone should have knowledge of sentance structure, and be aware of the usage of literary tools to communicate feelings and ambiance through words. Novelist and playwights attempt, sometimes with great success. The critic must also use these matters of fact in writing, to be successful.

The adjective 'matter-of-fact' (meaning 'direct', 'unemotional' or 'unembellished') is a significantly different beast than a matter of fact (a noun).

 

[256bits]

The adjective 'matter-of-fact' (meaning 'direct', 'unemotional' or 'unembellished') is a significantly different beast than a matter of fact (a noun).

In that sense I agree. Comparing the answers, how can one be "A Enlightening (and instructional) B Original thinking" and also have a "C Matter-of-fact attitude" meaning unimaginative. One could conclude that C is not compatable with the other essential characteristics.

I would suggest that in this short essay 'matter of fact attitude' is being used as meaning a practical knowledge of a subject.

 

[eggshell]

the answer is c, regardless of what the given solution is.

 

[Alex_Sanders]

D is the answer.
"looking beyond his specific subject at society, history, philosophy"
He might have philisophical insight, but not necessarily so, and only if his subject matter is philosophy.

A is necessary due to "to be a teacher" and "be a thinker"
B is necessary due to "taking off from where the classroom, always prematurely, has stopped" (implying 'the' something beyond rote and roster) and "to be a thinker"
C is necessary due to"to write as well as a novelist or playwright"

Do I win the prize?

Yes, as a matter of fact, you did.

The answer is D, albeit I strongly disagree.

 

[zoobyshoe]

Yes, as a matter of fact, you did.

The answer is D, albeit I strongly disagree.

Your informant is wrong. There is nothing in the paragraph that can be paraphrased to mean, or interpreted as implying, a matter-of-fact attitude is essential in a good critique.

 

[Pythagorean]

Reformatting the quote:

three duties:

1) to write as well as a novelist or playwright;
2) to be a teacher, taking off from where the classroom, always prematurely, has stopped
3) to be a thinker, looking beyond his specific subject at society, history, philosophy.

A Enlightening and instructional
B Original thinking
C Matter-of-fact attitude
D Philosophical insight

So the correlations are:

1) B
2) A
3) D

Yeah, I don't really see a solid case for 3) C, but I could see it being argued.

I could also see 2) and 3) as below, but no idea how 1) meets C) or D).

1) ?
2) A
3) B

 

[collinsmark]

Out of morbid curiosity, what is the source of this reading comprehension question? And more importantly, who is the official authority on the 'correct' answer? Did it come from a standardized test, or was it something that the liberal arts major acquaintance created (or one of his or her instructors/professors)?

By the way, if instead of asking,

"Based on the above paragraph, which of the following qualities was NOT mentioned/deemed essential by the author as a critique?"

it instead asked,

"Based on the above paragraph, which of the following qualities was NOT demonstrated by the author of the above critique?"

then I might be able to go with D.

 

[dipole]

Everybody shut up and give me an equation dammit.

 

[MarcoD]

three duties:

1) to write as well as a novelist or playwright;
2) to be a teacher, taking off from where the classroom, always prematurely, has stopped
3) to be a thinker, looking beyond his specific subject at society, history, philosophy.

A Enlightening and instructional
B Original thinking
C Matter-of-fact attitude
D Philosophical insight

So the correlations are:

1) B
2) A
3) D

Personally, I still think there case for original thinking is still pretty weak. I mean 1), a novelist or playwright implies original thinking? It's more often effective use of style and themes, there are not a lot of original works. Or 3) a thinker who looks beyond his own field? Just reading the newspaper regularly doesn't make you an original thinker.

A lousy exercise, with some thinking, I am pretty sure you can make any answer fit. But then, it's liberal arts, right?

 

[DaveC426913]

Everybody shut up and give me an equation dammit.

 

[zoobyshoe]

Personally, I still think there case for original thinking is still pretty weak. I mean 1), a novelist or playwright implies original thinking? It's more often effective use of style and themes, there are not a lot of original works. Or 3) a thinker who looks beyond his own field? Just reading the newspaper regularly doesn't make you an original thinker.

3.) definitely implies original thinking: thinking outside the paradigm of the subject at hand. "His subject" doesn't mean his field, it means the subject he is writing about. It says a good critic can connect whatever specific thing he's discussing to larger social, historical, and philosophical considerations, for example.

 

[Pythagorean]

Personally, I still think there case for original thinking is still pretty weak. I mean 1), a novelist or playwright implies original thinking? It's more often effective use of style and themes, there are not a lot of original works.

That's technically true, but you can still follow the formula and fail. You have to put things together in an original way sooner or later.

A large part of this is not being a textualist, though. Rather, it's guessing what the writer meant.