LSAT 153 | Section 2 | Logical Reasoning: Q13

LR Question 13 Explanation

QUESTION TEXT: The use of ordinary dictionaries in interpreting the law…

QUESTION TYPE: Weaken

CONCLUSION: The use of ordinary dictionaries for interpreting the law is justified.

REASONING: Chemists use the periodic table, which they all agree on. Dictionaries can be used the same way for legal interpretation.

ANALYSIS: This argument is founded on the comparison of dictionaries to the periodic table. But note that the periodic table is a source of “agreed-upon background information”, which makes it useful as a reference. If we had evidence that dictionaries were less agreed-upon, it would weaken the argument.

___________

1. The dictionary being in alphabetical order doesn’t weaken the argument, because the argument doesn’t compare the dictionary’s organizational structure to that of the periodic table.
2. CORRECT. If we know that the use of different dictionaries would result in different legal interpretations, it certainly weakens the comparison to the “agreed-upon” information in the periodic table.
3. The relative ages of these materials is not relevant to the argument.
4. The ease of memorization isn’t what the argument is founded on, so this is incorrect.
5. Who typically uses the reference doesn’t matter when we’re talking about its usefulness. This would be like saying “a calculator is not useful to a lawyer because they’re used primarily by mathematicians”.

Recap: The question begins with “The use of ordinary dictionaries in interpreting the law”. It is a Weaken question. Learn how to master LSAT Weaken questions on the LSAT Logical Reasoning question types page.