Read the passage carefully and answer the items based on it. You are required to select your answers based on the contents of the passage and the opinion of the author only. Historical analysis combines several levels of thinking and study, posing a question about the past, setting up the problem in a form intended to facilitate its solution, solving the problem, and verifying the solution or interpretation. Academic history relies on formal analysis, based on rational and systematic apprehension of relevant evidence. Yet such formal analysis can be seen as a subset of the broader category of interpretation, including responses to evidence that are impressionistic and informal rather than formal and logically structured. Indeed, the many genres of academic and popular history run the full gamut from logically systematic to impressionistic.
Historians come from a widely varying range of philosophical traditions, and the varying philosophies lead to quite different ways of posing questions and answers. The distinctions among philosophical principles sketched here help to show how it is that different analytical priorities arise on the main topics proposed for analysis; they also show how historians can rely on similar data yet come to different or conflicting conclusions. Nineteenth century philosophical outlooks remain central to the world-historical analysis: most notably the dialectics of G.W.F. Hegel and the materialism of Karl Marx. Another great nineteenth-century current of thought was positivism, elaborated by Auguste Comte and focusing on study through breaking large problems into small ones, seeking deterministic relationship within the smaller problems. Philosophies of structuralism and post modernism have developed in more recent times, rejecting the positivist separation of problems into discrete sub-problems and emphasizing interaction among aspects of a problem.
Historical Analysis: Key Components
The passage defines historical analysis as a multi-faceted process. It involves several stages: first, posing a specific question about the past; second, structuring the problem in a way that makes it easier to solve; third, finding a solution; and finally, verifying the proposed solution or interpretation.
Analyzing Options Against the Passage
Let's look at how each option fits within the passage's description of historical analysis:
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Posing a question about the past, setting up the problem in a form intended to facilitate its solution.
This option accurately describes the initial steps of the historical analysis process, as explicitly mentioned in the first paragraph of the passage.
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Solving the problem and verifying the solution or interpretation.
This option covers the concluding stages of historical analysis, which are also detailed in the passage as "solving the problem, and verifying the solution or interpretation."
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Combines several levels of thinking and study to arrive at a conclusion.
The passage starts by stating, "Historical analysis combines several levels of thinking and study...", making this option a correct, high-level description of the analytical process.
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Drawing from evidence to make impressionistic and informal conclusion.
The passage emphasizes that "Academic history relies on formal analysis, based on rational and systematic apprehension of relevant evidence." While it notes that interpretation can encompass "impressionistic and informal" responses, and that history genres range from systematic to impressionistic, the core requirement for academic analysis is formal and systematic. Therefore, drawing conclusions that are purely impressionistic and informal, without the systematic evidence-based approach central to formal analysis, does not fully amount to academic historical analysis as described.
Distinguishing Formal vs. Informal Historical Approaches
The text highlights that while interpretation can include informal and impressionistic elements, academic history prioritizes formal analysis. This formal analysis requires a systematic and rational examination of evidence. Consequently, an approach focused solely on making impressionistic and informal conclusions, rather than engaging in systematic evidence appraisal, stands apart from the core definition of historical analysis presented.
Similar Questions
- According to the passage, what can adversely affect the walking tour ?
'The many genres of academic and popular history run the full gamut from logically systematic to impressionistic' means:
- What, according to the author, makes historians come to conflicting conclusions?
1. They are influenced by their philosophical beliefs in asking questions on the same data.
2. They apply different interpretations on the same data.
3. They go for the primary data and evidence.
4. They are influenced by the current political developments.
Select the correct answer using the code given below: - Which word(s) from the passage can be substituted for the assertion that "all events and human actions are ultimately shaped by causes external to the will" ?
- Which one of the following relates to the post-modernist approach to History?
- According to the passage, what is the primary purpose of a walking tour?
- According to the passage, a walking tour should be gone upon alone because :
- According to the passage, how should a walking tour conclude ?
- What is the meaning of the word "dilettantes" in the passage?
S1. The beauty of India’s democracy rests in the greatness of its Constitution.
S2. The Constitution of India upholds the collective values of the country’s civilizational ethos.
Important Questions from Reading Comprehension
What is the meaning of ‘intrigued’?
What are ice shelves?
What are icebergs?
When the iceberg turns upside down, it appears ________.
The use of science in its simple form has helped man to ____________
