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- Wed Jun 28, 2017 2:08 pm
#36498
Complete Question Explanation
Main Point. The correct answer choice is (A)
This passage starts like many LSAT passages, setting up an idea or perspective in order to refute
it. Here, the author begins by saying that many critics insist that advertising makes people think
that they need things that in reality they only really want. The author immediately questions this
assertion, though, saying that it rests on a distinction that is often murky, because there are often
situations, the author says, in which it is impossible to distinguish between the things that you want
and the things that you need to be happy.
The stimulus is followed by a Main Point question. As discussed, the author takes issue with the
critics’ assertion, concluding that its rests on a murky distinction. This conclusion is based on the
premise that in life there are situations in which the distinction is impossible to make.
Answer choice (A): This is the correct answer choice, because the author’s conclusion is that the
critics’ assertion is based on a vague distinction.
Answer choice (B): The author’s point is not that critics claim consumerism blurs the distinction
between wants and needs, but that the distinction is naturally blurry under some circumstances.
Since this choice is not even accurate, let alone representative of the main point, it cannot be the
correct answer choice.
Answer choice (C): The author does take issue with a point made by consumerism’s critics, but does
not defend advertising’s attempts to persuade people that they need things.
Answer choice (D): The point made by the author is not that these critics fail to see that some things
are essential—it is that many such critics fail to see that the distinction between wants and needs can
be very blurry.
Answer choice (E): The only claim discussed in this stimulus is the one about advertising’s
persuading people that they need things that they might only want. Although the author makes the
case that this particular point rests on a blurry distinction, this is not the same as asserting that their
points usually rest on blurry distinctions. Since there is no basis for this assertion, it cannot be the
main point of the stimulus.
Main Point. The correct answer choice is (A)
This passage starts like many LSAT passages, setting up an idea or perspective in order to refute
it. Here, the author begins by saying that many critics insist that advertising makes people think
that they need things that in reality they only really want. The author immediately questions this
assertion, though, saying that it rests on a distinction that is often murky, because there are often
situations, the author says, in which it is impossible to distinguish between the things that you want
and the things that you need to be happy.
The stimulus is followed by a Main Point question. As discussed, the author takes issue with the
critics’ assertion, concluding that its rests on a murky distinction. This conclusion is based on the
premise that in life there are situations in which the distinction is impossible to make.
Answer choice (A): This is the correct answer choice, because the author’s conclusion is that the
critics’ assertion is based on a vague distinction.
Answer choice (B): The author’s point is not that critics claim consumerism blurs the distinction
between wants and needs, but that the distinction is naturally blurry under some circumstances.
Since this choice is not even accurate, let alone representative of the main point, it cannot be the
correct answer choice.
Answer choice (C): The author does take issue with a point made by consumerism’s critics, but does
not defend advertising’s attempts to persuade people that they need things.
Answer choice (D): The point made by the author is not that these critics fail to see that some things
are essential—it is that many such critics fail to see that the distinction between wants and needs can
be very blurry.
Answer choice (E): The only claim discussed in this stimulus is the one about advertising’s
persuading people that they need things that they might only want. Although the author makes the
case that this particular point rests on a blurry distinction, this is not the same as asserting that their
points usually rest on blurry distinctions. Since there is no basis for this assertion, it cannot be the
main point of the stimulus.