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#83660
Complete Question Explanation
Method of Reasoning. The correct answer choice is (D).
The arguments of Jorge and Ruth can be analyzed as follows:
Now let’s use the answer choices to discuss the structure of the argument.
Answer choice (A): Ruth does not challenge Jorge’s claim about her age. To the contrary, she seemingly admits he is correct when she says “Why should my youth alone prevent me...”
Answer choice (B): Although Ruth uses an example that cites culture, she does not clarify a definition of popular culture, and certainly not one left implicit in Jorge’s argument.
Answer choice (C): This is a Half Right, Half Wrong answer. The first part of the answer choice—“using the example of classical culture”—does occur in Ruth’s response, but she does not use that example “in order to legitimize contemporary culture as an object worthy of serious consideration.”
Answer choice (D): This is the correct answer. An analogy is a comparison between two items. In argumentation, analogies are often used to clarify the relationship between the items or reveal a fundamental truth about one of the items, as in “To better understand the operating system of your computer, think of it as the brain of your system.” The use of “brain” in the preceding sentence is the analogy.
Analogies can be used to challenge a position or support a position, but their strength often rests on the relevant similarities between the two items or scenarios. In the next chapter we will discuss False Analogies, where an author uses an analogy that is dissimilar enough to be nonapplicable.
As referenced in this answer choice, Ruth analogizes writing about Roman culture to writing about the 1960s to show that it is not unreasonable that someone who was an infant can write about that time period. Jorge’s assumption is that if a person was not a teen or older during the 1960s, then they cannot write well about the music of that period. Since all elements described in the answer choice occur and the answer describes the method used by Ruth, this is the correct answer.
Answer choice (E): Ruth does not attack Jorge’s qualification to make his argument, just his pronouncement that she will not be able to write well about the rock music of the 1960s.
Method of Reasoning. The correct answer choice is (D).
The arguments of Jorge and Ruth can be analyzed as follows:
- Jorge’s Argument
Premise: Rock music of the 1960s was created by and for people who were then in their teens and early twenties.
Premise: You were just an infant then [in the 1960s].
Conclusion: You won’t be able to write well about the rock music of the 1960s.
Ruth’s Argument
Premise: There are living writers who write well about ancient Roman culture, even though those writers are obviously not a part of ancient Roman culture.
Premise: Why should my youth alone prevent me from writing well about the music of a period as recent as the 1960s?
Conclusion: Your reasoning is absurd.
Now let’s use the answer choices to discuss the structure of the argument.
Answer choice (A): Ruth does not challenge Jorge’s claim about her age. To the contrary, she seemingly admits he is correct when she says “Why should my youth alone prevent me...”
Answer choice (B): Although Ruth uses an example that cites culture, she does not clarify a definition of popular culture, and certainly not one left implicit in Jorge’s argument.
Answer choice (C): This is a Half Right, Half Wrong answer. The first part of the answer choice—“using the example of classical culture”—does occur in Ruth’s response, but she does not use that example “in order to legitimize contemporary culture as an object worthy of serious consideration.”
Answer choice (D): This is the correct answer. An analogy is a comparison between two items. In argumentation, analogies are often used to clarify the relationship between the items or reveal a fundamental truth about one of the items, as in “To better understand the operating system of your computer, think of it as the brain of your system.” The use of “brain” in the preceding sentence is the analogy.
Analogies can be used to challenge a position or support a position, but their strength often rests on the relevant similarities between the two items or scenarios. In the next chapter we will discuss False Analogies, where an author uses an analogy that is dissimilar enough to be nonapplicable.
As referenced in this answer choice, Ruth analogizes writing about Roman culture to writing about the 1960s to show that it is not unreasonable that someone who was an infant can write about that time period. Jorge’s assumption is that if a person was not a teen or older during the 1960s, then they cannot write well about the music of that period. Since all elements described in the answer choice occur and the answer describes the method used by Ruth, this is the correct answer.
Answer choice (E): Ruth does not attack Jorge’s qualification to make his argument, just his pronouncement that she will not be able to write well about the rock music of the 1960s.
Dave Killoran
PowerScore Test Preparation
Follow me on X/Twitter at http://twitter.com/DaveKilloran
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PowerScore Test Preparation
Follow me on X/Twitter at http://twitter.com/DaveKilloran
My LSAT Articles: http://blog.powerscore.com/lsat/author/dave-killoran
PowerScore Podcast: http://www.powerscore.com/lsat/podcast/
