Digital SAT Reading and Writing Practice Question #1177

Passage 1 All genuine knowledge begins with experience. The human mind, initially a *tabula rasa*, gradually accumulates understanding through sensory perception and empirical verification. Concepts and theories, however elaborate, must ultimately be grounded in observable phenomena to possess any claim to truth. To assert a truth independent of empirical evidence is to indulge in mere speculation, a philosophical exercise divorced from the tangible reality that alone can validate our beliefs. Thus, the scientific method stands as the ultimate arbiter of what can be known. Passage 2 The very act of observation is never truly neutral; it is always mediated by pre-existing conceptual frameworks, cultural assumptions, and the inherent limitations of human cognition. What we perceive as "data" is already filtered and interpreted through lenses we often take for granted. To claim an objective, unmediated access to reality through empirical means is to underestimate the profound influence of interpretation and the social construction of meaning. Truth, then, is not simply discovered but actively negotiated within a community of discourse. Which of the following statements best characterizes the fundamental difference between the authors' perspectives on the acquisition of knowledge?