One of the most vexing problems

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One of the most vexing problems

by champmag » Sat Jun 04, 2011 8:10 am
One of the most vexing problems in historiography is dating an event when the usual sources offer conflicting chronologies of the event. Historians should attempt to minimize the number of competing sources, perhaps by eliminating the less credible ones. Once this is achieved and several sources are left, as often happens, historians may try, though on occasion unsuccessfully, to determine independently of the usual sources which date is more likely to be right.

Which one of the following inferences is most strongly supported by the information above?

A. We have no plausible chronology of most of the events for which attempts have been made by historians to determine the right date.
B. Some of the events for which there are conflicting chronologies and for which attempts have been made by historians to determine the right date cannot be dated reliably by historians.
C. Attaching a reliable date to any event requires determining which of several conflicting chronologies is most likely to be true.
D. Determining independently of the usual sources which of several conflicting chronologies is more likely to be right is an ineffective way of dating events.
E. The soundest approach to dating an event for which the usual sources give conflicting chronologies is to undermine the credibility of as many of these sources as possible.

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by cans » Sat Jun 04, 2011 8:26 am
IMO B
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by masterblaster775 » Sat Jun 04, 2011 9:37 am
IMO D

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by M09 » Sun Jun 05, 2011 11:36 am
champmag wrote:One of the most vexing problems in historiography is dating an event when the usual sources offer conflicting chronologies of the event. Historians should attempt to minimize the number of competing sources, perhaps by eliminating the less credible ones. Once this is achieved and several sources are left, as often happens, historians may try, though on occasion unsuccessfully, to determine independently of the usual sources which date is more likely to be right.

Which one of the following inferences is most strongly supported by the information above?

A. We have no plausible chronology of most of the events for which attempts have been made by historians to determine the right date.
B. Some of the events for which there are conflicting chronologies and for which attempts have been made by historians to determine the right date cannot be dated reliably by historians.
C. Attaching a reliable date to any event requires determining which of several conflicting chronologies is most likely to be true.
D. Determining independently of the usual sources which of several conflicting chronologies is more likely to be right is an ineffective way of dating events.
E. The soundest approach to dating an event for which the usual sources give conflicting chronologies is to undermine the credibility of as many of these sources as possible.
Narrowed down to [spoiler]A & B[/spoiler]
C - talks about any event - irrelevant
D - Argument doesn't talk about effective way
E - Argument doesn't talk about what's soundest way, how to achieve it etc..
IMO B
A We don't know whether attempts are for most of the hist. events.

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by Ozlemg » Sun Jun 05, 2011 11:48 am
i will go with B

It is safe to assume that some of the events can not reliably dated by historians-->Once this is achieved and several sources are left, as often happens, historians may try, though on occasion unsuccessfully, to determine independently of the usual sources which date is more likely to be right.
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by champmag » Mon Jun 06, 2011 1:33 am
OA is B guys

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by ibnbatuta » Mon Jun 06, 2011 9:47 am
I also think B is the right answer...
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by Tani » Mon Jun 06, 2011 10:18 am
The clue is in the stimulus. "Occasionally unsuccessfully" tells us clearly that some dates can't be reliably determined. That give us B.
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