LSAT 156 | Section 4 | Logical Reasoning: Q25

LR Question 25 Explanation

QUESTION TEXT: Translator: Dr. Abner, apparently scornful of my translation …

QUESTION TYPE: Flawed Reasoning

CONCLUSION: Dr. Abner’s criticism is unjustified.

REASONING: We don’t know how the original audience responded or what the author intended.

ANALYSIS: The translator is saying: we don’t know what the author intended, so you can’t say the translation is wrong.

Not knowing the exact intended effect doesn’t mean we can’t rule certain effects out. There could still be good evidence that the translation produces the wrong kind of response.

So the flaw is treating lack of knowledge about the correct answer as if it prevents us from saying something is incorrect. That doesn’t follow.

___________

1. Irrelevant. Whether there was more than one author doesn’t affect the reasoning.
2. No appeal to popularity here. The argument is about knowledge, not majority opinion.
3. Even if no specific feelings were intended, the issue is about what we can or can’t know.
4. The translator isn’t attacking Abner personally, they’re challenging his claim.
5. CORRECT. The argument assumes that because we don’t know what effects were intended, we can’t say certain effects were unintended.