RC Question 15 Explanation
DISCUSSION: The main idea of the passage is that Meyerson disagrees with the CLS movement. The passage describes several ways that she attacks the movement.
___________
- We’re only told Meyerson’s views. We don’t know what legal theorists think of CLS.
- This would only be right if the whole passage was about Meyerson’s claim that CLS overlooks complexity. That isn’t the case.
- CLS advocates view the legal system as being contradictory. But Meyerson doesn’t say CLS contradicts itself. (She says they see too many contradictions, in line 5)
- Meyerson ranks conflicting values in lines 17-23. But we’re not told if this is her most important contribution.
- CORRECT. This sounds very general, but it’s correct. There’s nothing wrong with a general answer. The passage is very scattered. The only unifying theme is that Meyerson disagrees with CLS for various reasons.
One of my main issues with RC is the question writers using words different from what they write in the passage. The text mentions that the CLS movement seeks to debunk orthodox legal theory, but the correct answer says “conventional legal theory.” How can I reasonably assume those two words are the same, especially when it is the name of a type of legal theory?
On the LSAT you’re allowed and required to use the regular meanings of words. Conventional and orthodox are synonyms, so there’s no assumption required: they mean the same thing. Hope that helps!