#7 - Specific Reference, Concept Reference, Must Be True

[Jonathan Evans]

Hi, KCho,

Your question makes perfect sense, and I understand your difficulty. However, there are a couple ways in which you could eliminate an answer choice like (A) should you come across a similar situation on the LSAT.

To begin, it is excellent that you have a solid grasp of the main point of this passage, but don't let the main point prejudice you too much when answering different kinds of questions. In this case, the task is a pretty cut-and-dry must be true situation. We need to find something supported by the given citation from the passage. Note the lack of authorial voice in this question stem. This is a purely textual question.

With this in mind, you should be aware of the larger context of the passage, but you should focus specifically and narrowly on what the given section of the text supports. In fact, you should anticipate on such questions answer choices that appeal to the broader narrative of the rest of the passage or that allude to other information in the passage. On such narrow questions, these answer choices are often incorrect.

Further, as with analogous situations on other must be true questions, we find ourselves perhaps unable to eliminate (A) but also unable to prove it. "Sure, that sounds plausible," we might say to ourselves. This is a classic "could be true" situation, but at the end of the day are we able definitively to support (A)? In fact, we're not, at least not with nearly the certainty with which we can support (C).

In other words, we can reasonably connect the dots between the idea that other Transcendentalists likely espoused these ideas of just and unjust laws and perhaps Thoreau did not, but does the passage, specifically with respect to the citation given, provide adequate evidence to support this contention? No, it does not.

Thus, there are two "takeaways" you might consider from this question to prepare for the LSAT. First, pay close attention to the scope and wording of the question itself. Make sure your work and prephrasing is in sync with these criteria. Second, judge answer choices not only by whether they are plausible "contenders" but also by how they stack up with the other contenders so that you pick the best answer.

[kcho10]

this helps so much. Thank you

[Blueballoon5%]

I am a little confused with this question. I chose B because I thought that the entire paragraph 3 was supporting the argument that MLK had similar ideas to transcendentalist thought. Moreover, the first sentence of the paragraph, "However, King's writings suggest that, without realizing it, he was an incipient transcendentalist," seems to suggest that MLK was affected/influenced by transcendentalism, and thus his ideas on just and unjust law are simply examples of how the two are similar.

Could you help me explain how answer choice B is wrong and how answer choice C is correct? Thank you!

Also, I had answer choice D as a contender. I chose B over D, but I am not sure how D is wrong either.

[Adam Tyson]

The question here is focused entirely on the two quotations in lines 53-56, blueballoon, and the "they" in all the answers refers to those quotes. We are looking for something about the quotes, not about MLK or transcendentalism directly. What is true of the quotes? It's that they show a similarity between how King and transcendentalists thought. That's the prephrase that you should carry with you into the answer choices.

The quotes do not provide evidence that King was influenced by transcendentalists, especially since the author already told us that King wasn't familiar with any of them other than Thoreau, and that King mostly disagreed with him. Those quotes also don't suggest any theoretical basis for King's philosophy of government, because the passage never tells us anything about what that philosophy is! All that they suggest is that King had some ideas that were similar to those of the transcendentalists.

Focus on the quotations, as that is what they asked us about! This is not about the passage more broadly, or the author's opinion, but just about what those quotes tell us.

[mab9178]

Hi,

To be clear answer-choice B is wrong because of the "They," which refers to lines 52-55.

However, outside these lines (52-55), and in accordance to the passage as a whole, MLK was affected by transcendentalist thought. This is true based on the inference or the correct answer to question 2 -- which states "[Civil Disobedience] influenced king's philosophy on passive resistance to unjust laws" -- along with lines 17-22 stating "Civil Disobedience was the only example of transcendentalist writing with which King was familiar..."

What makes B incorrect is the fact that question 7 wants us to chose an answer that is pertinent to lines 52-55 within the context of the passage.

However, the notion that passage, not lines 52-55, does provide evidence that proves that MLK's philosophy was affected by transcendentalist thought is correct; Correct? (Otherwise, how can E be the correct answer choice to question number 2!)

Is my analysis correct?

Thank you

[Adam Tyson]

That's all correct, mab9178. There is evidence that King was at least somewhat influenced by Civil Disobedience, which was a transcendentalist essay. But those lines provide no evidence of that influence, in part because we don't know if King wrote those words before or after he read the essay, and in part because those words don't appear to have anything to do with passive resistance. They're just evidence of having something in common.