LSAT 149 | Section 3 | Logical Reasoning: Q15

LR Question 15 Explanation

QUESTION TEXT: There is a popular view among literary critics that a poem…

QUESTION TYPE: Flawed Reasoning

CONCLUSION: The critics are wrong: poetry can be paraphrased.

REASONING: The critics write paraphrases of poetry and say that these paraphrases are accurate.

ANALYSIS: The author is correct that the critics hold two contradictory beliefs:

• Poems can’t be paraphrased
• The critics believe that their paraphrases of poetry are accurate.

These statements can’t both be accurate. But the author incorrectly assumes the first is false and the second true. It’s just as possible that the first is true and the second is false. If someone has contradictory beliefs we can’t just magically pick the one we want to be right.

___________

1. Not so. The author did point to actual evidence: the critics are hypocrites.
    
   This answer choice refers to a circular argument, in which the author has no evidence. This argument only has bad evidence, but that’s enough to make the argument not circular.
    
   If I say “John is because he is good!”, that’s circular.
    
   If I say “John is good because pandas are cute!”, my argument is stupid with bad evidence, but it isn’t circular.
2. Feelings and information weren’t in the stimulus. This answer is just trying to distract you with your own preconceptions about poetry.
3. The stimulus never discussed “usefulness”. It was only about whether paraphrases can be accurate. This answer is just a distractor.
4. CORRECT. Precisely. One of the critics’s beliefs has to be wrong. But the author merely picked the one they wanted. It’s quite possible that the paraphrases are not accurate, and so the critics are right that poems cannot be paraphrased.
5. Paraphrase only has one definition in the stimulus: to sum something up in different words.
    
   In fact, I looked up paraphrase in the dictionary, it only has one definition, ever. This answer could never be right. The stimulus does switch between a noun and a verb for paraphrase, but they have the same essential meaning.

Recap: The question begins with “There is a popular view among literary critics that a poem”. It is a Flawed Reasoning question. Learn how to master LSAT Flaw questions on the LSAT Logical Reasoning question types page.