LSAT 128 | Section 3 | Logical Reasoning: Q11

LR Question 11 Explanation

QUESTION TEXT: Literary critic: Samuel Johnson argued that writers should …

QUESTION TYPE: Sufficient Assumption

CONCLUSION: Works of fiction would be unrealistic if writers listened to Johnson.

REASONING: He says writers should refrain from giving bad characters attractive qualities.

ANALYSIS: The justification that Samuel Johnson gives for why he believes this is largely irrelevant to the critic’s argument, which is what the question asks about.

The critic says if writers refrain from giving bad characters good qualities, their works will be unrealistic. Why? Why would it be unrealistic for bad characters to have no good qualities?

This is the missing link. We need an answer that tells us that all bad people/characters have some good qualities in real life. Otherwise it doesn’t make sense why taking away their good qualities would make it unrealistic.

___________

1. This suggests that Johnson’s advice would make fiction less entertaining. But the argument is about realism, not entertainment value. The critic never said fiction would become boring – only unrealistic.
2. This is unrelated to the critic’s reasoning, which focuses on whether taking away good qualities in bad people makes fiction unrealistic.
3. CORRECT. This bridges the gap I outlined above. If all immoral people have at least some attractive qualities, then fiction that portrays immoral people without any attractive qualities would be unrealistic.
4. This may weaken Johnson’s justification for why he’s giving this advice, but it doesn’t affect the critic’s argument.
5. Interesting. But how does it explain why fiction would be unrealistic if Johnson’s advice were followed?