Wittgenstein on Freud - IELTS Reading Sample with Explanation
The IELTS reading section examines a candidate’s comprehending skills within the stipulated amount of time. The IELTS reading section comprises passages followed with different kinds of questions to holistically judge a student’s grasping abilities while reading.
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This particular IELTS reading practice test has a passage on- Wittgenstein on Freud, which consists of the following types of questions:
- Yes/No/Not Given
- Fill in the blanks (Summary completion)
The reading tests contain a variety of sample passages with different kinds of questions which will equip a student with all the possible dimensions of this section. These practice tests should be taken with utmost seriousness to perform brilliantly on the D-Day.
Section 1
Read the Passage to Answer the Following Questions
Wittgenstein on Freud IELTS Reading Sample
- Ludwig von Wittgenstein has justly been regarded as one of the major philosophers of the twentieth century, especially for his writings on the philosophy of language and logic. His work on psychoanalysis and criticism of his fellow Viennese, Sigmund Freud, have, however, been generally overlooked.
- Wittgenstein is both highly critical of and at the same time greatly admiring of Freud’s work. Perhaps it would be fairer to say that he is not critical so much of psychoanalysis as of Freud claims for it. For Freud, it was essential that his work be regarded as science: that he had developed a new branch of medicine based on scientific principles, having established causal relationships between behaviour in childhood and that in adulthood. Wittgenstein, while accepting the usefulness of Freud’s method, disputes that these relationships are causal, therefore denying Freud’s theories’ scientific validity.
- In causal relationships, we can at least imagine contradictory cases. For example, I can imagine placing a pan of water on a hot stone and water freezing(of course I do not expect it to happen and would be very surprised if I did). With Freud’s theory, however, this is not the case. One of the central planks of this theory is the pursuit of hidden meaning in such things as dreams, work of art, even language(the famous ‘Freudian slip’). Take the example of dreams. For Freud, these are all sexual wish-fulfillments. Freud however, will not accept any contradiction to his theory and argues that in these cases the sexual element is camouflaged, or even repressed. This is a strange notion, for how can a dream fulfil a wish if the desire is so disguised that the dreamer does not even recognise it? More importantly, if under no circumstances will Freud allow his hypothesis to be contradicted, how can we verify it? It therefore behoves us to recognise that, despite his assertions Freud’s theories are not causal hypotheses, and thus not scientific.
- One might ask, given this analysis, how Freud came to make this mistake, or rather why he believed that his explanations were causal. It is a confusion between what we might call the “depth-grammar” and “surface-grammar” of certain sentences. If we say, ‘the window broke because the stone hit it’, we are outlining a causal relationship between the stone hitting the window and the window breaking, this being designated by the word ‘because’. However, if we say, ‘he hit her because he was angry’, whilst it may appear that the word ‘because’ performs the same function, this is not the case. The similarity lies only on the surface; if we look at the depth-grammar, we see that in the first sentences ‘because’ denotes a causal relationship, whereas in the second we are rather talking in terms of motivations, reasons and other non-causal terms. Freud’s mistake, therefore, is to believe that both types of sentences are similar: he confuses the surface-grammar.
- Despite all this confusion, I have stated that Wittgenstein was highly appreciative of Freud’s work, and this is because he essentially reformulates what Freud was trying to do. Freud believed that he was explaining people’s behaviour, while Wittgenstein suggests that he is redescribing it. To him, Freud is providing a ‘picture’ of human behaviour which may enable us to make certain connections that other ways of looking would not reveal, and by showing these patterns and connections the method may have therapeutic value. In this case, although the ‘picture’ described by Freud’s method is not a true one(for by Wittgenstein’s arguments it cannot be), nevertheless it is unique, enabling the patient to have insights into their problems that no other method could provide.
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Section 2
Solution and Explanation
Questions 27-32:
Do the following statements below agree with the information given in the Reading Passage?
In the boxes 27-32 on your answer sheet, write:
YES-if the statement agrees with the information
NO-if the statement contradicts the information
NOT GIVEN- if there is no information on this
- Wittgenstein was a great moral philosopher.
Answer: Not Given
Supporting sentence: Ludwig von Wittgenstein has justly been regarded as one of the major philosophers of the twentieth century, especially for his writings on the philosophy of language and logic.
Keywords: Wittgenstein, moral, philosopher
Key Location: 1st paragraph, 1st line
Explanation: This is the correct answer because nowhere in the passage is it mentioned that Wittgenstein was a great moral philosopher, it is only mentioned that he’s one of the major philosophers of the 20th century. Hence there is no such information given.
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- Wittgenstein owes the high regard in which he is held, in part, to his work on philosophy of language and Logic
Answer: Yes
Supporting sentence: Ludwig von Wittgenstein has justly been regarded as one of the major philosophers of the twentieth century, especially for his writings on the philosophy of language and logic.
Keywords: Wittgenstein, language, logic, philosophy
Key Location: 1st paragraph, 1st line
Explanation: This is the correct answer because it is clearly mentioned at the beginning of the passage that the reason why Wittgenstein is regarded as one of the major philosophers is particularly because of his work on philosophy of language and logic. Hence the statement agrees with this information.
- Wittgenstein totally admired Freud’s work without reservation.
Answer: No
Supporting sentence: Wittgenstein is both highly critical of and at the same time greatly admiring of Freud’s work.
Keywords: Freud, Wittgenstein, work, admiration
Key Location: 2nd paragraph, 1st line
Explanation: This is the correct answer because Wittgenstein is not all praises about Freud, he has his reservation on certain claims of Freud’s, though he supports them in parts.Therefore, the given statement contradicts the information given.
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- Wittgenstein supports Freud’s claims as to the causal relationship between childhood behaviour and that in adulthood.
Answer: No
Supporting sentence: Wittgenstein, while accepting the usefulness of Freud’s method, disputes that these relationships are causal, therefore denying Freud’s theories’ scientific validity.
Keywords: Freud, support, causal relationship, childhood behaviour, adulthood
Key Location: 2nd paragraph, last line
Explanation: This is the correct answer because Wittgenstein only supports the method linking childhood behaviour and adulthood but he opposes that the relationships are causal. Therefore the statement contradicts the given information.
- Freud’s theory on causal relationships enjoys considerable support in spite of Wittgenstein’s objections.
Answer: Not Given
Supporting sentence: Wittgenstein, while accepting the usefulness of Freud’s method, disputes that these relationships are causal, therefore denying Freud’s theories’ scientific validity.
Keywords: causal relationship, support, objection, Freud’s theory
Key Location: 2nd paragraph, last line
Explanation: This is the correct answer because the only thing that is discussed in the passage is Wittgenstein’s take on Freud’s theory of causal relationship and how he appreciates in parts and is also critical about it. Nothing is mentioned about Freud’s theory receiving great support elsewhere.
- The writer agrees with Wittgenstein that Freud’s theory of causal hypotheses is not specific.
Answer: Yes
Supporting sentence: It therefore behoves us to recognise that, despite his assertions Freud’s theories are not causal hypotheses, and thus not scientific.
Keywords: Freud’s theory, causal hypotheses, specific
Key Location: 3rd paragraph, last line
Explanation: This is the correct answer because the writer does agree with Wittgenstein when he says that contradictory cases can be imagined in causal relationships but for Freud, there can be no contradictions to his hypothesis and thus cannot be verified, hence it ceases to be scientific. The same applies to all without any contradictions, according to Freud.
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Questions 33-40:
Complete the text below, using one word only from the passage for each blank space. Write your answers in boxes 33-40 on your answer sheet.
Complete the text below, using one word only from the passage for each blank space. Write your answers in boxes 33-40 on your answer sheet.
Despite 33)…….. confusion regarding surface-grammar, Wittgenstein held his work in high regard.
Freud believed that he was 34)…..…… people’s behaviour, while to Wittgenstein he was merely 35)……….. it. In other words, Wittgenstein believes that Freud provides a 36)…… of human behaviour, which allows us to look at things in different ways. This, according to Wittgenstein may be 37)…..…… .
According to the writer, although Freud’s ‘picture’ is not genuine, still it is 38)……….. . It allows the 39)….…… to have 40)…..…… into his or her problems.
- Answer: Freud’s
Supporting sentence: Despite all this confusion, I have stated that Wittgenstein was highly appreciative of Freud’s work, and this is because he essentially reformulates what Freud was trying to do.
Keywords: confusion, surface grammar, high regard, work
Key Location: 5th paragraph, first line
Explanation: This is the correct answer for this blank as it is clearly mentioned that Freud’s mistake was due to his confusion with the surface grammar but in spite of it Wittgenstein praises his work
- Answer: explaining
Supporting sentence: Freud believed that he was explaining people’s behaviour, while Wittgenstein suggests that he is redescribing it.
Keywords: Freud, people’s behaviour
Key Location: 5th paragraph, 2nd line
Explanation: This is the correct answer for the given blank as it is explicitly mentioned in the 5th paragraph that Freud was of the opinion that he was explaining human behaviour.
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- Answer: redescribing
Supporting sentence: Freud believed that he was explaining people’s behaviour, while Wittgenstein suggests that he is redescribing it.
Keywords: Wittgenstein, people’s behaviour, believe
Key Location: 5th paragraph, 2nd line
Explanation: This is the correct answer for this blank because it is explicitly mentioned in the 5th paragraph that Wittgenstein was of the opinion that he was redescribing people’s behaviour rather than explaining.
- Answer: picture
Supporting sentence: To him, Freud is providing a ‘picture’ of human behaviour which may enable us to make certain connections that other ways of looking would not reveal
Keywords: Freud, believe, human behaviour, look at things
Key Location: 5th paragraph, 3rd line
Explanation: This is the correct answer because Wittgenstein thinks Freud provides a picture of human behaviour while Freud himself thinks that he’s explaining people’s behaviour.
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- Answer: therapeutic
Supporting sentence: To him, Freud is providing a ‘picture’ of human behaviour which may enable us to make certain connections that other ways of looking would not reveal, and by showing these patterns and connections the method may have therapeutic value.
Keywords: Freud, human behaviour, look at things
Key Location: 5th paragraph, 3rd line
Explanation: This is the correct answer because Wittgenstein thinks that Freud’s picture of human behaviour allows people to look at things in a different way which otherwise wouldn’t have been possible and this process can be therapeutic, as mentioned in the 5th paragraph.
- Answer: unique
Supporting sentence: In this case, although the ‘picture’ described by Freud’s method is not a true one(for by Wittgenstein’s arguments it cannot be), nevertheless it is unique
Keywords: Freud, picture, not genuine
Key Location: 5th paragraph, last line
Explanation: This is the correct answer for this blank because as it is mentioned in the passage that the picture provided by Freud isn’t accurate but a unique one.
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- Answer: patient
Supporting sentence: In this case, although the ‘picture’ described by Freud’s method is not a true one(for by Wittgenstein’s arguments it cannot be), nevertheless it is unique, enabling the patient to have insights into their problems that no other method could provide.
Keywords: Freud, picture, not genuine, problems
Key Location: 5th paragraph, last line
Explanation: This is the correct answer for this blank because the unique picture provided by Freud enables people to have a deeper understanding of their problem, as mentioned in the concluding paragraph of the passage.
- Answer: insights
Supporting sentence: In this case, although the ‘picture’ described by Freud’s method is not a true one(for by Wittgenstein’s arguments it cannot be), nevertheless it is unique, enabling the patient to have insights into their problems that no other method could provide.
Keywords: Freud, picture, not genuine, problems
Key Location: 5th paragraph, last line
Explanation: This is the correct answer for this blank as it is explicitly given in the 5th paragraph that though the picture provided by Freud might not be accurate, it’s nonetheless accurate which provides people with insights into their problem and this is why his work is appreciated by Wittgenstein.
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