While recent scholarship has undermined claims that the works of twelfth-century Islamic philosopher Ibn Rushd were _______ other Muslim philosophers...
GMAT Craft and Structure : (Structure) Questions
While recent scholarship has undermined claims that the works of twelfth-century Islamic philosopher Ibn Rushd were _______ other Muslim philosophers of his time, it is indisputable that his location in the Muslim-ruled area of what is now Spain meant that his works were primarily available thousands of miles west of the era's center of Islamic thought.
Which choice completes the text with the most logical and precise word or phrase?
controversial among
antagonistic toward
imitated by
inconsequential to
Step 1: Decode and Map the Passage
Part A: Create Passage Analysis Table
| Text from Passage | Analysis |
|---|---|
| "While recent scholarship has undermined claims that the works of twelfth-century Islamic philosopher Ibn Rushd were" |
|
| [MISSING WORD/PHRASE] |
|
| "other Muslim philosophers of his time," |
|
| "it is indisputable that his location in the Muslim-ruled area of what is now Spain meant that his works were primarily available thousands of miles west of the era's center of Islamic thought." |
|
Part B: Provide Passage Architecture & Core Elements
Visual Structure Map:
[RECENT SCHOLARSHIP challenges old claims] → [Ibn Rushd was _____ other philosophers] → BUT (contrast) → [INDISPUTABLE: Geographic isolation from Islamic centers]
Main Point: While recent scholarship has revised our understanding of Ibn Rushd's relationship to other Islamic philosophers, his geographical isolation from major Islamic intellectual centers remains an important factor.
Argument Flow: The passage sets up a contrast between new scholarly findings about Ibn Rushd's significance and the unchanging reality of his geographical separation from the main centers of Islamic thought.
Step 2: Interpret the Question Precisely
This is a fill-in-the-blank question asking us to choose the best logical connector. The answer must create the right relationship between what comes before and after the blank.
Step 3: Prethink the Answer
- The structure "While recent scholarship has undermined claims that..." tells us that old beliefs about Ibn Rushd are being challenged as incorrect
- The second part emphasizes his geographical isolation from the center of Islamic thought
- The right answer should describe a relationship that would make sense to challenge given new scholarship, while the geographical isolation explains why such claims might have existed
controversial among
✗ Incorrect
- This would mean scholarship undermined claims that Ibn Rushd was controversial among other philosophers
- Doesn't make logical sense and has no clear connection to geographical isolation
antagonistic toward
✗ Incorrect
- Would mean scholarship challenged claims that Ibn Rushd was hostile to other philosophers
- Doesn't connect meaningfully to his geographical isolation
imitated by
✗ Incorrect
- Would mean scholarship undermined claims that Ibn Rushd was imitated by other philosophers
- Creates a logical contradiction with the geographic isolation that made his works unavailable
inconsequential to
✓ Correct
- Recent scholarship has challenged old claims that Ibn Rushd was unimportant to other Muslim philosophers
- This makes perfect sense: scholarship shows he WAS important, BUT his geographical isolation still limited his immediate influence
- The geographical isolation explains why people might have previously thought he was inconsequential