LSAT 78, Logical Reasoning II, Q24, LSATHacks

QUESTION TEXT: For a work to be rightly thought…

QUESTION TYPE: Most Strongly Supported

FACTS: 

World literature ➞ interpreted in national tradition AND interpreted in world traditions

Interpreted within national tradition:

1. Positive model for national tradition, OR
2. Example of a negative, decadent tendency to be avoided, OR
3. Image of radical otherness that refines home tradition.

ANALYSIS: This question uses big words, but it isn’t particularly difficult. All it says is:

To be A, you must be interpreted within B and C. To be interpreted, you must meet at least one of three conditions.

That’s not complex, is it? Before looking at the answers, you should clarify all that in your mind, and then the right answer will be obvious: it will be the one consistent with the statements. It turns out the right answer hinges on a plural – the LSAT is rewarding those who grasped the details in this stimulus.

The first three answers make comparisons between external traditions and national traditions. The stimulus never did that.

Perhaps the hardest part about the right answer is that it switches from “meet one of the three conditions above” to “affects the development of [only one] a national tradition”

Where did that come from? Actually, a fair reading of the three conditions shows that a following any of them would “affect the development” of the tradition following them. Increasingly, the LSAT requires you to recognize when different words refer to the same concept. 

___________

1. The stimulus makes no links between being received internally and externally.
2. Similar to A. The author never compares the benefits of being received externally or internally.
3. Same as A and B. The author does not compare world traditions vs. national traditions.
4. The stimulus doesn’t say if books require influence from other books. Presumably you could create a book entirely free of influence and still meet the conditions above.
5. CORRECT. The first sentence says a world book must:
   1. Be interpreted within national and external traditions. (So, multiple traditions)
   2. Interpretation requires one of three conditions. And if you look at them, you’ll see that they all would “affect the development” of a tradition. See the analysis above.

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