LSAT 79, Reading Comprehension, Q19, LSATHacks

DISCUSSION: Reading the whole paragraph makes clear why the author mentions Yi-Fu Tuan. Lines 33-35 say that the author wants to apply Tuan’s insight about fear of wilderness to the Mesolithic. Then they proceed to do this in the next two paragraphs.

Note that Yuan was not talking about clearings. They were talking about general fear of wilderness. The author takes this point, and uses it to make a theory about wilderness clearings. Every wrong answer mistakenly says that Tuan does talk about clearings.

The answers to this question are styled like method of reasoning answers from LR. The wrong ones describe things that did not happen.

___________

1. Nonsense. Yi-Fu Tuan wasn’t talking about clearings, and the concept of wilderness fear has no direct bearing on resource procurement theory.
   Instead, the author uses Tuan’s evidence to build their own, alternate case.
   Example of rendering a hypothesis doubtful: The procurement theory says that clearings were used for hunting. But, Yi-Fu Tuan points out that the bright sunlight in clearings makes it hard to see and therefore impossible to hunt.
2. Tuan wasn’t talking about clearings! So, they can’t exemplify any argument about them.
   Example of exemplifying: For example, Yi Fu Tuan says that Mesolithic populations in France created forest clearings to hunt. I will challenge this argument. 
3. Tuan didn’t talk about clearings! The author’s theory about clearings is the author’s own theory. No one else developed it.
4. CORRECT. This matches best. See the analysis above. The author describes Tuan’s theory of wilderness fear, and then in paragraphs 4 and 5 the author uses that theory to create an alternate theory of wilderness clearings.
5. Tuan has no view of clearings! Tuan was making a point about wilderness fear in general. The author takes this point, and then applies it to wilderness clearings.

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