Q14

[hwsitgoing]

Hi,

Where in the passage can I find evidence to back up the correct answer C in question 14? I cannot seem to find any. Is C implying that the civil courts also failed to observe standards or professional conduct scrupulously?

Thank you!

[noah]

You've got it! (C) is supported by lines 31 - 35, where the author points out that civil lawyers were often disciplined for unethical behavior (and then he or she goes on to argue against possible criticisms of using that information to conclude that ecclesiastical lawyers probably were also acting unethically).

I thought (A) was very tempting, but the author doesn't mention church documents in the third paragraph (where a comparison of the behavior of the two groups of lawyers is compared); instead the author mentions those documents in the next paragraph, which is used to discuss complaints about the ecclesiastical disciplinary system.

Tricky!

[farhadshekib]

You've got it! (C) is supported by lines 31 - 35, where the author points out that civil lawyers were often disciplined for unethical behavior (and then he or she goes on to argue against possible criticisms of using that information to conclude that ecclesiastical lawyers probably were also acting unethically).

I thought (A) was very tempting, but the author doesn't mention church documents in the third paragraph (where a comparison of the behavior of the two groups of lawyers is compared); instead the author mentions those documents in the next paragraph, which is used to discuss complaints about the ecclesiastical disciplinary system.

Tricky!

(A) also uses a very strong word (i.e. "untrue"); the author, however, suggests that this hypothesis is "inherently weak" (line 42) and that the alternative hypothesis is "more plausible" (line 31).

[b16]

The problem with answer choice A is that it says "documents obtained from the ecclesiastical courts."

The passage says the documents are by the Council of Basel, not from ecclesiastical courts. This is a shell game answer in which the source of the contradicting documents has been swapped with a group from earlier in the passage.

[jm.kahn]

Line 51-55 mention medieval church records that support that there were complaints about unethical practices.

This directly supports choice A. "Untrue" in A should not be an issue because the question is "most likely to agree", so the author can likely agree with the strong statement and A doesn't have to soften it by saying "likely untrue".

Considering the above, can an expert explain why A is not credited?

[SamuelA256]

Line 51-55 mention medieval church records that support that there were complaints about unethical practices.

This directly supports choice A. "Untrue" in A should not be an issue because the question is "most likely to agree", so the author can likely agree with the strong statement and A doesn't have to soften it by saying "likely untrue".

Considering the above, can an expert explain why A is not credited?

Answer choice A refers to documents obtained from the "ecclesiastical courts." Answer choice A is tricky (and wrong) because we can't be sure that the declarations from the Council of Basel or papal constitutions or directive of Cardinal Cesarini produced documents in these "ecclesiastical courts." These could be other administrative functions of the church that oversee the court.

[AbhistD667]

You've got it! (C) is supported by lines 31 - 35, where the author points out that civil lawyers were often disciplined for unethical behavior (and then he or she goes on to argue against possible criticisms of using that information to conclude that ecclesiastical lawyers probably were also acting unethically).

I thought (A) was very tempting, but the author doesn't mention church documents in the third paragraph (where a comparison of the behavior of the two groups of lawyers is compared); instead the author mentions those documents in the next paragraph, which is used to discuss complaints about the ecclesiastical disciplinary system.

Tricky!

It seems like author did a comparison flaw; just because 2 things are similar in one aspect it has to be similar in other aspect as well but the question is asking us about the author regardless of his comments.

Kinda weird because we spend almost an entire section pointing or finding flaws but here we gotta accept it as it is.