GMAT Purpose PAssage

[saheebabatra]

Historically, a cornerstone of classical empiricism has been the notion that every true generalization must be confirmable by specific observations. In classical empiricism, the truth of "All balls are red," for example, is assessed by inspecting balls; any observation of a non red ball refutes unequivocally the proposed generalization.
For W. V. O. Quine, however, this constitutes an overly "narrow" conception of empiricism. "All balls are red," he maintains, forms one strand within an entire web of statements (our knowledge); individual observations can be referred only to this web as a whole. As new observations are collected, he explains, they must be integrated into the web. Problems occur only if a contradiction develops between a new observation, say, "That ball is blue," and the preexisting statements. In that case, he argues, any statement or combination of statements (not merely the "offending" generalization, as in classical empiricism) can be altered to achieve the fundamental requirement, a system free of contradictions, even if, in some cases, the alteration consists of labeling the new observation a "hallucination."

1. The author of the passage is primarily concerned with presenting:

A.criticisms of Quine's views on the proper conceptualization of empiricism
B. evidence to support Quine's claims about the problems inherent in classical empiricism
C. an account of Quine's counterproposal to one of the traditional assumptions of classical empiricism
D.an overview of classical empiricism and its contributions to Quine's alternate understanding of empiricism
E. a history of classical empiricism and Quine's reservations about it

And where can we assume the passage to be from?

Saheeba Batra

[saheebabatra]

3. As described in the passage, Quine's specific argument against classical empiricism would be most strengthened if he did which of the following?

A.Provided evidence that many observations are actually hallucinations.
B.Explained why new observations often invalidate preexisting generalizations.
C.Challenged the mechanism by which specific generalizations are derived from collections of particular observations.
D.Gave an example of a specific generalization that has not been invalidated despite a contrary observation.
E.Mentioned other critics of classical empiricism and the substance of their approaches.

4. It can be inferred from the passage that Quine considers classical empiricism to be "overly 'narrow' " (lines 14-15) for which of the following reasons? I. Classical empiricism requires that our system of generalizations be free of contradictions. II. Classical empiricism demands that in the case of a contradiction between an individual observation and a generalization, the generalization must be abandoned. III. Classical empiricism asserts that every observation will either confirm an existing generalization or initiate a new generalization.

A.I and II only
B.I and III only
C.II and III only
D.II only
E.I, II, and III

Thanks

[Sankeerthana]

IMO,

1. C
A: criticisms of Quine's views on the proper conceptualization of empiricism -->The author is not criticizing Quine's views, he is simply stating them. Incorrect.
B. evidence to support Quine's claims about the problems inherent in classical empiricism -->There is no evidence of any kind provided in the 2nd paragraph to support Quine's view.Incorrect.
C. an account of Quine's counter proposal to one of the traditional assumptions of classical empiricism --> Quine is making a counter proposal here, by arguing against one of the fundamental tenets(a cornerstone of classical empiricism) of empiricism. "For W. V. O. Quine, however, this constitutes an overly "narrow" conception of empiricism." Correct.
D.an overview of classical empiricism and its contributions to Quine's alternate understanding of empiricism --> the 1st paragraph is a brief overview of Empiricism, but the second phrase, "its contributions to Quine's alternate understanding" is not justified. Incorrect.
E. a history of classical empiricism and Quine's reservations about it -->The author does not provide any history of empiricism- no account of the origin, proliferation etc. He only explainig what empiricism is, and states one of its principle tenets.Incorrect

3. D

4. A. I & II

[parveen110]

I am not sure about answer to question # 4.

According to me, answer should be D.
As option (III) talks about initiation of new generalization. But A/c to passage the generalization is only refuted. This i think is out of scope of the passage.
And Quine wouldn't call the classical empiricism narrow because of the reason given in (I) also, because even he wants that ultimately(after the new and possibly contradictory observations) systems of generalizations be free of contradiction.
Is my reasoning correct??

Experts Please weigh in.

Thanks!!