#2 - Global Reference, Parallel

[Administrator]

Complete Question Explanation

The correct answer choice is (E).

Answer choice (A):

Answer choice (B):

Answer choice (C):

Answer choice (D):

Answer choice (E): This is the correct answer choice.

This explanation is still in progress. Please post any questions below!

[lsatprep1215]

Hi,

I picked D for this question base from line 15-19. I thought D is correct because Posner is still committed to his view while "expressing qualified support for the movement". D stated this paradoxical relationship. Can someone explain why am I wrong and why E is correct?

[Adam Tyson]

I see two problems with answer D here, lsatprep1215. First, is there any "compelling evidence to the contrary" in the passage? Is there any suggestion that Posner is just being unreasonable in refusing to accept a counter argument? I don't see that happening - the passage never gives much of a reason to think that the law and literature movement has much going for it, other than that it seems to be popular.

Second, Posner doesn't totally stick to his position, at least on the surface. Instead, he "paradoxically ends up expressing
qualified support for the movement" and "writes that law-and-literature is a field with 'promise.'" Answer D is directly opposed to these statements! E is much better - it's clear that Posner, like the salesman, prefers his position, but then says sure, let's give that other thing a look and see what it's got going for it. The movement is the "fashionable product" that Posner says has a lot of faults, but about which he says it has some promise.

Boiled down, Posner's position is paradoxical in that he rips the movement to shreds but then says it has value. Answer D leaves out that second part - it has value - while answer E captures it perfectly.

[cd1010]

I was stuck between B and E on this one, and eventually picked B.

In the spirit of trying to find things that are wrong with the answer choices, I was not convinced of the phrase in E "conceding that it may have some value".

It seemed to me that the passage never gave evidence about why Posner's "supported" the movement beyond just lip service. These are following related sentences regarding this:

"Indeed, one indication of the movement's strength is the fact that its most.... PARADOXICALLY ends up expressing qualified support....literary critics" (Here, my take is that the author is asking, how and why can we interpret Posner as supporting L&L?)

"Nevertheless, P writes that law-and literature is a field with promise Why"? To this question, the author answers with a "perhaps", but then inserts the possibility that Posner might be ambivalent: "leaving it to others to draw the conclusion from his COGENT analysis that it is an entirely FACTITIOUS undertaking."

My take on this is that the author is making an observation about shift in Posner's position -- that Posner concedes that a shift has occurred in the field, but never actually changes his critiques. This is the nature of Posner's "qualified support". Because of the words cogent and factitious, which I took to indicate something about the author's tone, it also seems to me that the author actually implicitly agrees with Posner's reservations.

Basically, I didn't pick E because I didn't think that Posner ever conceded that L&L "may have some value", he merely conceded that it has gained momentum and acceptance in legal academia.

B was not my top choice either, because of the phrase "transfer allegiance" (I didn't think that Posner transferred allegiance), but I thought this answer choice captured the disingenuousness with which Posner recognized the success of the movement.

[Dana D]

Hey CD,

Looking at answer choice (E), we're looking for someone who describes faults or drawbacks in something while simultaneously presenting it as something with value - they are not writing it off, but rather selling you on it all while admitting there are issues.

In the passage, there are two main instances where Posner's viewpoint is described: in line (15) and line (52). In (15), Posner "paradoxically expresses qualified support" - he vouches for law and lit but then brings up all these issues with leaders in the field. In line (52), Posner says law and literature "deserves a place in legal research", indicating he thinks there is some value in the field, but then presents an analysis of it which indicates the field is "deserving of no
intellectual respect whatsoever." (line 56).

Posner's support is a little bit of 'lip service' in the sense that he keeps claiming to see value in the field all while criticizing it, but that's exactly what the salesman in answer choice (E) is doing, which is why it is the right answer. He never shifts in his viewpoint - rather he keeps maintaining this contradictory stance. Answer choice (B) cannot be correct because of this consistency - perhaps if Posner had changed camps from a lit and law hater to lover, or vice versa, but he instead keeps asserting lukewarm support while also tearing down the field.

Hope that helps!