LSAT 105 | Section 1 | Logical Reasoning: Q1

LR Question 1 Explanation

QUESTION TEXT: Tennyson’s line of poetry “nature, red in tooth and …

QUESTION TYPE: Identify the Conclusion

CONCLUSION: Tennyson’s line was not meant to reference Darwin’s theory of evolution.

REASONING:

1. The poem was published in 1850, but Darwin didn’t reveal his findings until 1859.
2. The context of the poem suggests that the line referred to the creationist theory.

ANALYSIS: To recognize a conclusion, you should consider which statement is supported by everything else but does not support anything else. In this case, that’s the first sentence. The following two sentences just give justifications for why Tennyson’s line wasn’t referring to the theory of evolution.

___________

1. The argument is about whether Tennyson originally intended it as such, not whether it can be construed that way now.
2. This is a premise used in the argument to support the conclusion, but it is not the main conclusion.
3. Same as B. It’s used as evidence to support why Tennyson’s line wasn’t referring to the theory of evolution.
4. Same as B and C.
5. CORRECT. This is what the conclusion is, as stated in the first sentence of the stimulus.