LSAT 101 | Section 3 | Logical Reasoning: Q9

LR Question 9 Explanation

QUESTION TEXT: The play Mankind must have been written between 1431…

QUESTION TYPE: Weaken

CONCLUSION: Mankind was written between 1431 and 1471.

REASONING: The play mentioned a coin called the rose noble, which first appeared in 1431. The dedication mentions Henry VI was alive, and he died in 1471.

ANALYSIS: This sounds like a good argument. The right answer will weaken one of the two facts.

We can weaken the coin fact by showing that the Rose Noble existed earlier than 1431.

We can weaken the fact about the king by showing that he lived later than 1471, or it was customary to refer to dead kings as still being alive.

Remember which side of the dates you have to prove. It’s only useful to prove the play could have been written before 1431 or after 1471.

It’s not useful to prove that the play could have been written after 1431 or before 1471. We already know that.

___________

1. It doesn’t matter when the play was performed. We want to know when it was written. And even if the play was performed in 1480, it may have also been performed earlier.
2. This goes in the wrong direction. If the rose noble didn’t exist in 1422, then the play couldn’t have been written in 1422. What if the play mentioned the Roman Empire? That doesn’t mean the play had to be written during those times.
3. This doesn’t matter. You can mention something that no longer exists. You can’t mention something that hasn’t yet come into existence.
4. This doesn’t prove that the play was written after 1471 or before 1431. That’s the conclusion we’re trying to disprove. This fact still leaves many years between 1431-71 when Henry VI was king and the play could have been written.
5. CORRECT. This shows that the rose noble existed earlier than we thought. The play could have been written as early as 1428.

Recap: The question begins with “The play Mankind must have been written between 1431”. It is a Weaken question. Learn how to master LSAT Weaken questions on the LSAT Logical Reasoning question types page.