Kaplan RC Passage : Migration

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Kaplan RC Passage : Migration

by Target2009 » Sun Dec 26, 2010 4:13 pm
Source: Kaplan

The great migration of European intellectuals to the United States in the second quarter of the twentieth century prompted a transformation in the character of Western social thought. The influx of Continental thinkers fleeing fascist regimes had a great impact on American academic circles, leading to new developments in such diverse fields as linguistics and theology. But the greatest impact was on the emigrés themselves. This "migration experience" led expatriates to reexamine the supposedly self-evident premises inherited from the Continental intellectual tradition. The result, according to H. Stuart Hughes in The Sea-Change, was an increased sophistication and deprovincialization in social theory.

One problem facing newly arrived emigrés in the U.S. was the spirit of anti-intellectualism in much of the country. The empirical orientation of American academic circles, moreover, led to the conscious tempering by many European thinkers of their own tendencies toward speculative idealism. In addition, reports of oppression in Europe shook many Old World intellectuals from a stance of moral isolation. Many great European social theorists had regarded their work as separate from all moral considerations. The migration experience proved to many intellectuals of the following generations that such notions of moral seclusion were unrealistic, even irresponsible.

This transformation of social thought is perhaps best exemplified in the career of the German theologian Paul Tillich. Migration confronted Tillich with an ideological as well as a cultural dichotomy. Hughes points out that Tillich's thought was "suspended between philosophy and theology, Marxism and political conformity, theism and disbelief." Comparable to the fusion by other expatriate intellectuals of their own idealist traditions with the Anglo-American empiricist tradition was Tillich's synthesis of German Romantic religiosity with the existentialism born of the twentieth-century war experience. Tillich's basic goal, according to Hughes, was to move secular individuals by making religious symbols more accessible to them. Forced to make his ethical orientation explicit in the context of American attitudes, Tillich avoided the esoteric academic posture of many Old World scholars, and was able to find a wide and sympathetic audience for his sometimes difficult theology. In this way, his experience in America, in his own words, "deprovincialized" his thought.

13. The author's main concern in the passage is to
(A) characterize the effects of migration onU.S. history
(B) show how Paul Tillich's career was representative of the migration experience
(C) discuss the effects of the great migration on modern social thought
(D) reveal the increased sophistication of post-migration thought
(E) contrast European social thought with that of the United States

14. The author probably mentions H. Stuart Hughes (Highlighted) in order to
(A) give an example of a European intellectual who migrated to America
(B) cite an important source of information about the migration experience
(C) demonstrate how one American academic was influenced by European scholars
(D) pay tribute to Americans who provided European thinkers with a refuge from fascism
(E) name a leading disciple of Paul Tissich

16. According to the passage, reports of "oppression in Europe" (Highlighted) affected social thinkers by forcing them to
(A) rethink their moral responsibilities
(B) reexamine the morality of European leaders
(C) analyze the effects of migration on morality
(D) reconsider their anti-social behavior
(E) justify the moral value of social thought

17. It can be inferred that postmigration social thought is distinguished from premigration thought by its
(A) less secular nature
(B) greater social consciousness
(C) more difficult theology
(D) diminished accessibility
(E) more theoretical nature

How to break this passage? how much note taken? How much time taken in breaking passage and each question? How to approach each of above question?
Source: — Reading Comprehension |

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by mundasingh123 » Tue Dec 28, 2010 1:33 am
7:45
Very Slow
For the rest of the questions.I think u shoudl drop a mail to an expert to help u.
Neways Can u provide the OA Please
[spoiler]C
B
A
A[/spoiler]

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by Target2009 » Mon Jan 03, 2011 9:54 am
OA : CBAB

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by mundasingh123 » Mon Jan 03, 2011 11:42 am
Target2009 wrote:OA : CBAB
I got the last wrong but i am happy .I am bad at RC.Sorry u posted very late.I forgot how i went abt this thing.Any guy will try to follow some tried and tested method that is advocated by test companies or something on BTG or GmatClub .I Just Read the RC well at the last moment but i was in dilemma as to which part of RC was factual and supposwed to be ignored and which part to pay attention to get the Big picture.

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by patanjali.purpose » Fri Oct 26, 2012 1:15 pm
Target2009 wrote: Source: Kaplan

The great migration of European intellectuals to the United States in the second quarter of the twentieth century prompted a transformation in the character of Western social thought. The influx of Continental thinkers fleeing fascist regimes had a great impact on American academic circles, leading to new developments in such diverse fields as linguistics and theology. But the greatest impact was on the emigrés themselves. This "migration experience" led expatriates to reexamine the supposedly self-evident premises inherited from the Continental intellectual tradition. The result, according to H. Stuart Hughes in The Sea-Change, was an increased sophistication and deprovincialization in social theory.

One problem facing newly arrived emigrés in the U.S. was the spirit of anti-intellectualism in much of the country. The empirical orientation of American academic circles, moreover, led to the conscious tempering by many European thinkers of their own tendencies toward speculative idealism. In addition, reports of oppression in Europe shook many Old World intellectuals from a stance of moral isolation. Many great European social theorists had regarded their work as separate from all moral considerations. The migration experience proved to many intellectuals of the following generations that such notions of moral seclusion were unrealistic, even irresponsible.

This transformation of social thought is perhaps best exemplified in the career of the German theologian Paul Tillich. Migration confronted Tillich with an ideological as well as a cultural dichotomy. Hughes points out that Tillich's thought was "suspended between philosophy and theology, Marxism and political conformity, theism and disbelief." Comparable to the fusion by other expatriate intellectuals of their own idealist traditions with the Anglo-American empiricist tradition was Tillich's synthesis of German Romantic religiosity with the existentialism born of the twentieth-century war experience. Tillich's basic goal, according to Hughes, was to move secular individuals by making religious symbols more accessible to them. Forced to make his ethical orientation explicit in the context of American attitudes, Tillich avoided the esoteric academic posture of many Old World scholars, and was able to find a wide and sympathetic audience for his sometimes difficult theology. In this way, his experience in America, in his own words, "deprovincialized" his thought.

13. The author's main concern in the passage is to
(A) characterize the effects of migration onU.S. history
(B) show how Paul Tillich's career was representative of the migration experience
(C) discuss the effects of the great migration on modern social thought
(D) reveal the increased sophistication of post-migration thought
(E) contrast European social thought with that of the United States
Is MODERN SOCIAL THOUGHT correct in OA? Is the author really discussing effects of great migration on MODERN SOCIAL THOUGHT?