Q7

[khaleesiwantstodolaw]

In order to answer this question I went back to the last paragraph of the passage and re-read lines 45-55 and picked E based on the discussion in lines 52-55. Now, that I'm reviewing, I understand why C is the correct answer. The whole last paragraph focuses on how King and most other transcendentalists' philosophy was similar when it came to the concept of "higher law". But originally, I didn't see how C was paraphrasing this very concept in the passage.

Can somebody please tell me whether my line of thought is now correct and also why E is wrong. Thanks!

[tommywallach]

Hey Khaleesi,

Great start here. Let's look at all five answer choices, because life is more fun that way.

(A) We don't know if this is a way in which King different from Thoreau, though we do know it represents one of the ways his ideas were similar to those of the other transcendentalists.

(B) is directly contradicted by the passage. We are led to believe that this was a way in which King was like the transcendentalists without knowing that he was. See the first sentence of that paragraph: "However, King's writings suggest that, without realizing it, he was an incipient transcendentalist."

(C) CORRECT! This is definitely supported. If a law can be "just or unjust," then it is being judged by an ethical standard. This is said to be matched by the transcendentalist's concept of "higher law."

(D) goes too far. We don't actually know King's philosophy of government.

(E) We are not told that this is Thoreau's position, so this is wrong for the same reason that (A) is wrong. Thoreau is not discussed in the last paragraph, so it's very unlikely the correct answer would mention Thoreau (unless it said something like "We don't know anything about how this relates to Thoreau"!).

Hope that helps!

-t

[khaleesiwantstodolaw]

(E) We are not told that this is Thoreau's position, so this is wrong for the same reason that (A) is wrong. Thoreau is not discussed in the last paragraph, so it's very unlikely the correct answer would mention Thoreau (unless it said something like "We don't know anything about how this relates to Thoreau"!).

Aah! I get it now. Thank you so much! This seems to be a recurring problem for me. I always seem to lose track of people's positions over the course of the entire text, unless their names are specifically mentioned along with their stated positions. I'll be on the lookout for this sort of thing from now on!

[ytian03]

How can we know that "higher law“ = ”moral law"?
Couldn't it be anything else?
Though the passage says that King's opposition was akin to the opposition of transcendentalists, does it have to mean that King and the transcendentalists have the exactly same definitions of unjust law as immoral/unethical law?

[RuonanW40]

How can we know that "higher law“ = ”moral law"?
Couldn't it be anything else?
Though the passage says that King's opposition was akin to the opposition of transcendentalists, does it have to mean that King and the transcendentalists have the exactly same definitions of unjust law as immoral/unethical law?

Line 46-47&57 indicate that King's discussion of "just and unjust law" is "akin to/similar to" that of transcendentalists' (that complete the first part of answer C).
The quotes from line 52-55 are King's "discussion of just and unjust law", which involves "moral law" that is the synonym of "ethical standards" in C (that complete the second part of C).