LSAT 101 – Section 3 – Question 04

LSAT 101 - Section 3 - Question 04

December 1997

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Question
QuickView		 Type Tags Answer
Choices		 Curve Question
Difficulty		 Psg/Game/S
Difficulty		 Explanation
PT101 S3 Q04
+LR
Flaw or descriptive weakening +Flaw
A
2%
160
B
3%
162
C
8%
160
D
3%
161
E
84%
169
140
150
160
 +Medium 146.901 +SubsectionMedium

J.Y.’s explanation

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M: The Greek alphabet must have been invented by some individual who knew the Phoenician writing system and who wanted to have some way of recording Homeric epics and thereby preserving expressions of a highly developed tradition of oral poetry.

P: Your hypothesis is laughable! What would have been the point of such a person’s writing Homeric epics down? Surely a person who knew them well enough to write them down would not need to read them; and no one else could read them, according to your hypothesis.

Summarize Argument: Counter-Position
P concludes that M is incorrect to hypothesize that the Greek alphabet was invented by someone who knew the Phoenician writing system and wanted to record Homer’s stories. P claims that writing down those stories would have been pointless for such an individual, who would already know those stories without writing them down. Also, no one else would know the newly-invented alphabet and be able to read the stories.

Identify and Describe Flaw
P argues that M’s hypothesis is not convincing because there would be no point for someone to write down a story that they knew, in a new alphabet. However, P’s argument can be criticized for overlooking some convincing possible reasons:

1) the writer might anticipate forgetting the story later, and

2) the writer might teach the new alphabet to others.

A
It fails to demonstrate that the Phoenician alphabet alone could have provided the basis for the Greek alphabet.
P’s argument doesn’t rely on the claim that the Phoenician alphabet alone is the basis for the Greek alphabet. P isn’t making any claims at all about the basis for the Greek alphabet.
B
It incorrectly assumes that the first text ever written in Greek was a Homeric poem.
P simply doesn’t claim, nor rely on an assumption, that the first text written in Greek was a Homeric poem.
C
It confuses the requirements for a complex oral tradition with the requirements of a written language.
P doesn’t make any claims about the requirements of an oral tradition compared to those of a written language.
D
It attempts to demonstrate the truth of a hypothesis merely by showing that it is possible.
P doesn’t attempt to demonstrate the truth of a hypothesis at all, but rather, attempts to cast doubt on the truth of M’s hypothesis.
E
It overlooks the possibility that the person who invented the Greek alphabet did so with the intention of teaching it to others.
P claims that inventing an alphabet to write down Homeric stories would have been pointless partially because no one could have read the stories in a new alphabet. This overlooks the possibility that the writer wanted to teach others the alphabet.

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LSAT PrepTest 101 Explanations

Section 1 - Reading Comprehension

Section 2 - Logical Reasoning

Section 3 - Logical Reasoning

Section 4 - Reading Comprehension

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