higher moral life

Question

Human reaction to the realm of thought is often as strong as that to sensible presences; our higher moral life is based on the fact that ___ sensations actually present may have a weaker influence on our action than do ideas of ___ facts.
A. emotional … impersonal
B. familiar : symbolic
C. disturbing … ordinary
D. material … remote
E. defenitive … controvoisial

This one is a bit tough too. Again, I hope you'll gimme detailed explanation. Thank you sooo much for your time!

CalifJim · Accepted Answer

The second half (after the semi-colon) is a restatement of the first half, but in slightly less general terms. So we need something that essentially repeats the same thought contained in the first half.
The comparison is between our reaction to thought (the mind, things mental) and our reaction to sensation (perceptions). The claim in the first half is that our reaction is often as strong to thought as to sensation. The idea of "reaction" is modified to "have an influence" in the second half. Also "as strong as" is modified to "the sensations can even be less strong (weaker)(in influence) than thought (things mental). In spite of the modifications, as I said earlier, the two halves of the statement are really saying the same basic thing.

I take the meaning of the first half to be an allusion to the fact that we often take action based on our mental conception of reality rather than based on what our physical perceptions may be telling us. (For some reason optical illusions came to mind.) So among the choices, the one that struck me was the one that, when substituted in the blanks, said that very ordinary sensations may be telling us one thing, but we will be more influenced by the symbolic power of mental constructs when we act. (The hysteria surrounding the burning of the U.S. flag comes to mind. People's sensations tell them that it is just a piece of colored cloth in a pattern very familiar to them, but their mental constructs (cultural baggage, if you will) influences them to see it as a symbol of the entire country and its history. Since the conceptual (mental) is stronger than the purely perceptual (sensational), people get very upset about flag burning. I believe this may be the kind of "moral" reaction the author is talking about.)

I hope that helped.
CJ

Jeff_999 · Answer

Thank you so much, CJ. It helped a lot.
You’ve always taught me more than how to answer the question.

So the sentence is dealing two different things: conceptual power and physical reaction. The former would have a stronger impact on our action than the later.

But the five choices are kind of tricky. I know only material fits the first blank. But does "remote fact" indicate this conception: "fact is a stubborn thing; we can’t alter it."

CalifJim · Answer

I edited my answer to emphasize the correct answer: familiar / symbolic.

"remote fact" would not carry the meaning you need. "remote" means at a great distance away, and it doesn't have anything to do with "stubborn".

CJ

Jeff_999 · Answer

Oh! Thank you CJ.

It's B.

But remote means dispassionate, impassive, impartial too. It seems to have something to do with "stubborn" if "stubborn" means "can't be altered or moved".

CalifJim · Answer

I can see how you might think there is a relation between "impassive" and "stubborn" if you focus on certain of the less-used meanings, but the main meaning of "impassive" is "having no emotion", "apathetic", whereas the main meaning of "stubborn" is "determined to exert one's will", "obstinate".

Jeff_999 · Answer

But when we talk about stubbon fact, it means the fact without emotion. <img class='emoticon' style='Width:19px;Height:19px;' data-delaysrc='https://uat-englishforward-forums-backend.s3.us-west-2.amazonaws.com/Emoticons/1.gif' src='https://uat-englishforward-forums-backend.s3.us-west-2.amazonaws.com/Emoticons/1.gif' alt='Emotion: smile'/>

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