RC - Tough one - Inference

[karthikpandian19]

The extent to which French psychiatrist Jacques Lacan has had a significant impact on the modern field of psychoanalysis has been the subject of some debate. Harvard University professor and clinical psychologist Annie Rogers seeks to distill Lacan's opaque concepts into theories that can be applied practically in psychotherapy. In her analysis, Rogers claims that Lacan's contributions have been both undervalued and misconstrued. She concedes that Lacan's unique, idiosyncratic linguistic style has led to the dismissal of his writings by many psychoanalysts. Doubt about Lacan's authority is compounded by the fact that most respected psychoanalysts give credence to formal clinical case studies-scholarly work that Lacan's writings fail to reference. Still, Rogers credits Lacan with uncovering the methods by which the unconscious manifests itself through language. She has applied Lacanian theory in her practice of psychotherapy to treat victims of abuse.

Dylan Evans, a psychoanalyst who argues that Lacan's theories lack a sound scientific basis, has concluded that the application of Lacanian thought is more detrimental than it is beneficial to patients of psychotherapy. Evans' concern is Lacan's definition of "The Real"; this definition, according to Evans, inhibits patients from reaching a true understanding of themselves. Evans contends that Lacan's definition of The Real as "the impossible" (something that is both unimaginable and unattainable) is injurious, as it divorces the idea of conventional reality from The Real. Evans eventually asserts that the very entrance into language, the attempt to state The Real in words, signifies an irrevocable separation from The Real itself and is therefore impractical for the purposes of psychotherapy. Evans found that his patients experienced anxiety as a result of their inability to mentally differentiate between the real and the imaginary-a distinction which, owing to the limitations of language, can never be realized through conversation.

Despite the fact that Lacan's ideas are not always met with unqualified approval, it is true that Lacan was the first to suggest that knowledge is constructed on the basis of linguistic structures that organize not only our conscious, but also our unconscious lives. Evans' criticism of Lacan is challenged by Rogers' ability to effectively translate and apply the distinctive logic of Lacan's thinking to achieve successful results. Still, Rogers deviates slightly from Lacan, who was a Freudian thinker, in that her application of Lacanian thought undercuts Freud's emphasis on the bodily causes of behavior. Rogers instead focuses on the ways in which a human subject can use language to understand his or her relationships with others.

It can be inferred from the passage that psychoanalyst Dylan Evans would most likely agree with which of the following statements?


(A) Because the human mind is incapable of perceiving reality, psychoanalysts must help patients to realize the impossibility of distinguishing the illusory from the concrete.

(B) In spite of its mercurial conception of reality, Lacanian psychoanalytic theory has many practical applications for sufferers of mental trauma.

(C) Though Lacan's influence on the field of psychoanalysis is significant, his penchant for ornate language makes his work difficult to translate into a practical system.

(D) Lacan, like Freud, understood the importance of language as a medium through which people understand their relationship to the real world.

(E) Patients need to be able to conceptualize the distinction between tangible reality and their own consciousnesses in order to grasp their own identities

[Bill@VeritasPrep]

Another doozy .


(A) Because the human mind is incapable of perceiving reality, psychoanalysts must help patients to realize the impossibility of distinguishing the illusory from the concrete. I don't think he would say that the human mind is incapable of perceiving reality; he brings up issues with the mind's ability to deal with the imaginary

(B) In spite of its mercurial conception of reality, Lacanian psychoanalytic theory has many practical applications for sufferers of mental trauma.He would not say the theory has practical applications

(C) Though Lacan's influence on the field of psychoanalysis is significant, his penchant for ornate language makes his work difficult to translate into a practical system. The ornate language issue was only mentioned in the paragraph about Rogers

(D) Lacan, like Freud, understood the importance of language as a medium through which people understand their relationship to the real world. This fits more with Rogers

(E) Patients need to be able to conceptualize the distinction between tangible reality and their own consciousnesses in order to grasp their own identities I think this fits with his concern about "the real."

[jaiswalamrita]

Para 2 says it all;

"Evans' concern is Lacan's definition of "The Real"; this definition, according to Evans, inhibits patients from reaching a true understanding of themselves. Evans contends that Lacan's definition of The Real as "the impossible" (something that is both unimaginable and unattainable) is injurious, as it divorces the idea of conventional reality from The Real."

Hence E

[RyanJW]

I went with E on this one.

(A) - This passage did not mention anything about the human mind's capability of perceiving reality, making it difficult to agree or disagree with this statement.
(B) - I couldn't bring anything out of this passage that would agree with this statement either.
(C) - It appeared to me that Evans did not believe Lacan had "significant influence" on the field.
(D) - This brought in a comparison to Freud. From what I've read we have to come into these not knowing anything and aside from knowing that Lacan was a "Freudian Thinker" - we don't know much else about Freud and because of that it would be hard to agree with something Freud apparently understood without evidence.

(E) - This one stuck out to me as correct immediately. This statement shows no support of Lacan (it's obvious that Evans doesn't support much or any of what Lacan did) and it also supports an opposing viewpoint that Evans took.

[karthikpandian19]

OA is E

[karthikpandian19]

OE is

This question asks you to identify a statement with which Dylan Evans would agree. The difficulty here lies in the answer choices. Even if we re-read the second paragraph and get a good sense of Evans' viewpoints, the answer choices go out of their way to associate themselves with Evans' own statements. This makes it easy to confuse Evans' perspective with various quotes in the passage. To tackle this question, we must translate Evans' ideas into simple statements. Only then can we focus on untangling the obfuscating language of the answer choices and begin comparing them to the text.

Choice E is correct. This answer choice restates Evans' problem with Lacanian theory in practice, as it is described at the end of the second paragraph. Recall that Evans found that his patients experienced anxiety as a result of their inability to mentally differentiate between the real and the imaginary. If this is his problem with Lacanian theory, it follows that he believes that patients need to be able see the difference between the imaginary and the real, or "tangible reality" and "consciousness," in order to have a successful experience with psychotherapy.

Choice A is extreme statement that Evans would likely disagree with. Remember, Evans..asserts that the very entrance into language, the attempt to state The Real in words, signifies an irrevocable separation from The Real itself and is therefore impractical for the purposes of psychotherapy. Neither theorist argues that the human mind cannot "perceive" reality, but merely that reality cannot be conveyed through language (if anything, the passage implies that it is possible for patients to mentally distinguish "the illusory from the concrete," through practical psychotherapy).

Choice B sounds more like something Rogers might agree with-particularly the second clause. Recall that the second paragraph states that Evans concluded that the application of Lacanian thought is more detrimental than it is beneficial, and even calls it impractical for the purposes of psychotherapy. Furthermore, "mercurial"-or changeable or erratic-does not properly characterize Lacan's conception of reality as it appears in the passage.

Choice C could well represent something Evans would agree with, however it is not supported by the passage. This criticism of Lacan's language is actually attributed to many psychoanalysts in the first paragraph (as one of Rogers' concessions about Lacan's theories). However we cannot assume that Evans agrees with this sentiment, since the second paragraph details a completely different line of criticism from Evans.

Choice D masks an irrelevant topic by using passage wording. The last paragraph indicates that Lacan was a Freudian thinker, but we cannot assume that Evans would conclude anything about Freud's understanding of "the importance of language," since the author does not mention Freud's opinions on language in psychoanalysis. Furthermore, the passage does not indicate how well Evans understood Freud's views.

Choice E is correct.

OA is E