LSAT 90, Logical Reasoning II, Q7, LSATHacks

LR Question 7 Explanation, by LSATHacks

QUESTION TEXT: Newspaper article: Recently discovered clay tablets…

QUESTION TYPE: Necessary Assumption

CONCLUSION: The tablets in Egypt challenge the belief that the Sumerians were the first to create literature.

REASONING: The tablets that were found dated between 3300 and 3200 B.C. One tablet seems to be literature.

ANALYSIS: Historians thought Sumerian literature was the earliest. We now have an Egyptian tablet written in 3300 B.C. at the earliest. The conclusion says this tablet challenges the belief that Sumer was the first to create literature. So, for this tablet to challenge that belief, it must be true that Sumer’s earliest literature was written sometime later than 3300 B.C. (If Sumer produced literature earlier, in 3400 B.C. for example, then this would still be the oldest literature).

___________

1. We don’t care about “most” of the recently discovered tablets. To disprove a claim, you only need a single example. We already found one tablet with Egyptian literature. If this tablet was made before any Sumerian tablet, then Sumer was not the first to create literature.
2. We don’t care about “written records”. We only care about literature. This answer is irrelevant.
   Negation: “Not every civilization that kept other case.
3. CORRECT. If the Egyptian tablets challenge the idea that the Sumerians were the first to create literature, then the Sumerians must not have created literature earlier than 3300 B.C. Otherwise the argument falls apart.
   Negation: The Sumerians made some literature in 3400 B.C. Before the Egyptian literature.
4. Who cares what a single historian thinks? There’s always some disagreement in a profession. Total unanimity is not necessary.
   Negation: Cornelius McCrank, a retired historian of Midwest Architecture, thinks the tablets are fake. All other historians think they are real.
5. We don’t care about when the Sumerian civilization arose. We only care about when they began writing literature.

Recap: The question begins with “Newspaper article: Recently discovered clay tablets”. It is a Necessary Assumption question. Learn how to master LSAT Necessary questions on the LSAT Logical Reasoning question types page.