LSAT 102 | Section 2 | Logical Reasoning: Q16

LR Question 16 Explanation

QUESTION TEXT: Political scientist: The dissemination of political…

QUESTION TYPE: Necessary Assumption

CONCLUSION: Political theories need someone outside the university to translate them.

REASONING: Political theory could change society…but professors write in such strange language that nobody understands them, including those who could use the theories to change society.

ANALYSIS: The right answer is a simple idea disguised by the complicated language of this question.

The argument assumes that at least some people outside of universities can communicate more clearly than professors.

___________

1. It doesn’t matter if people outside academia are the most important change agents. They just have to be reasonably important.
2. The stimulus is talking about political theory in general. Academics may formulate theories, but theory is bigger than academics. We want to know what political theory does, not what its creators intended.
3. The point was that people outside academia could translate after theory was formulated.
4. The stimulus didn’t say who will gain from political theory. We’re only concerned with whether theories will be disseminated.
5. CORRECT. If this isn’t true, then people outside the university won’t be able to translate academics’ language.

Recap: The question begins with “Political scientist: The dissemination of political”. It is a Necessary Assumption question. Learn more about LSAT Necessary questions in our guide to LSAT Logical Reasoning question types.