Hyperlearning (Princeton) Verbal - 1st Test, 1st Passage

[theyellowking]

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Hi everyone. Not sure how this exactly works, but I'm a bit torn on the following question:

"From the context of the passage, it can be inferred that the author favors which of the following?"

I was stuck between "the weak anthropod principle" and "it cannot be inferred which versions the author favors."

However, I chose the former because of the following phrase...
"Few people would quarrel with the validity or utility of the weak anthropic principle" (He would then introduce the strong anthropic principle). This phrasing makes it sound like the author agrees with the weak principle, stating that very few would go against it.

The answer says the author was indifferent, and I was simply wondering how you can look at the phrasing above and say the author did not favor the weak principle. Thanks!

 

[NextStepTutor_1]

For verbal passages that ask "according to the author..." make sure that the sentences you are looking at only are the author's thoughts...you can confirm that by asking yourself if the author is referencing anyone else when mentioning the ideas. In this case, the author mentions that "FEW PEOPLE..." thus, even though it seems that he might be agreeing with this, we cannot automatically assume that. Instead, we just know that the author believes a lot of people agree with this theory--he might be one of the people in opposition though.

Thus, I would not assume based on this sentence that the author favors one principle over another.