Read the following passage and answer the questions that follow:
At school the study of literature can still involve a close reading or ‘practical criticism’ of a novel, play or poem without much or any recourse to external material. Practical criticism is the method of analysing a poem, in isolation from the circumstances of its production, developed by I. A. Richards (1893-1919) in the 1920s. He felt that concentration upon the words on the page’, the technical aspects of the ways verse creates effects, would result in meaningful judgements upon whether a poem was intrinsically ‘good’ or simply reputedly so. The methodology of practical criticism seeks coherence in images, themes and patterns of language. Richards and his colleagues felt that this practice was ‘scientific’ and led to objective value judgements. He was part of a group of lecturers at Cambridge University who played a crucial role in the development of the discipline of English Literature and whose methodology influenced the critical practices of the New Critics, John Crowe Ransom (1888-1974) and Cleanth Brooks (1906-94) and their colleagues in the US. Their ‘scientific’ examination of literature asserted a hierarchy of texts, those that held universal meaning and significance through aesthetic form and those deemed too formulaic to warrant academic scrutiny. The first revered group of texts is often referred to as the literary canon.

What kind of value judgement did practical criticism as a radical critical movement promote or promulgate?

The correct option is: Evaluating value in terms of universal truths.

Let us break down why this is the correct answer step-by-step based on the provided passage:

Step 1: Understand the core methodology of Practical Criticism
According to the passage, practical criticism is a method of analyzing a literary text in isolation from external circumstances (such as historical context or authorial intent). Instead, it focuses heavily on "the words on the page," looking for coherence in images, themes, and patterns of language to make objective value judgements.

Step 2: Analyze the impact and assertion of this methodology
The passage states that the methodology of practical criticism influenced the New Critics in the US. Their "scientific" examination of literature asserted a hierarchy of texts. Specifically, they divided texts into "those that held universal meaning and significance through aesthetic form and those deemed too formulaic to warrant academic scrutiny."

Step 3: Connect to the options
The passage directly links the evaluation of a text's value (its place in the hierarchy or literary canon) to whether it holds "universal meaning and significance through aesthetic form." Therefore, practical criticism promotes value judgements that evaluate a text's worth in terms of these universal meanings or truths.
Other options such as "giving credence to intentionality" (author's intent) or "valorising historical scholarship" run contrary to the passage, which states practical criticism analyzes texts "in isolation from the circumstances of its production" and "without much or any recourse to external material."