#11 - Strengthen

[Administrator]

Complete Question Explanation
(See the complete passage discussion here: lsat/viewtopic.php?t=10828)

The correct answer choice is (D)

This question asks for the choice that would support the notion that !Kung women reflect women’s experiences in general; the right answer choice will provide evidence of this contention.

Answer choice (A): Sympathy on the part of others would not necessarily support the contention that Nisa’s experiences illustrate women’s experiences in general, so this choice should be ruled out of contention.

Answer choice (B): The fact that such an approach might be fruitful in studying both men’s and women’s issues would not support the contention discussed in the question.

Answer choice (C): The popularity of Shostak’s technique would not provide support for the assertion that Nisa’s experiences illustrate those of women in general.

Answer choice (D): This is the correct answer choice. If, as this choice provides, a very different culture produces many common experiences, this would support the author’s contention, confirming this as the correct answer choice.

Answer choice (E): This choice would support the notion that Nisa’s experiences are like those of other !Kung women, but it would not support the idea that her experiences illustrate those of women in general.

[15veries]

Another ethnographer explores the experiences of individual women in a culture quite different from that of the !Kung and finds many issues that are common to both cultures.

I thought Nisa is part of Kung culture...from this answer choice it sounds like Nisa and Kung are different cultures and they share common ideas.
What did I miss?

[Adam Tyson]

Hey there 15, thanks for asking. I see your confusion here.

Nisa is a part of the !Kung culture, but the point here is that her experiences are not unique to that culture but are common to the experiences of women in general. If we see the same experiences in a different culture, that would strengthen the claim that those experiences are not unique to the !Kung but are common to women in general.

See it now? Hope that helped!

[CPA2lawschool]

Complete Question Explanation
(See the complete passage discussion here: lsat/viewtopic.php?t=10828)

The correct answer choice is (D)

This question asks for the choice that would support the notion that !Kung women reflect women’s experiences in general; the right answer choice will provide evidence of this contention.

Answer choice (A): Sympathy on the part of others would not necessarily support the contention that Nisa’s experiences illustrate women’s experiences in general, so this choice should be ruled out of contention.

Answer choice (B): The fact that such an approach might be fruitful in studying both men’s and women’s issues would not support the contention discussed in the question.

Answer choice (C): The popularity of Shostak’s technique would not provide support for the assertion that Nisa’s experiences illustrate those of women in general.

Answer choice (D): This is the correct answer choice. If, as this choice provides, a very different culture produces many common experiences, this would support the author’s contention, confirming this as the correct answer choice.

Answer choice (E): This choice would support the notion that Nisa’s experiences are like those of other !Kung women, but it would not support the idea that her experiences illustrate those of women in general.

Hi team,

Thanks for the explanation. I can understand why D strengthens the author's contention but have a quick question about AC A.

At issue is the interpretation of "sympathy."

Per Merriam-Websters there are four interpretations of "sympathy":

1a : an affinity, association, or relationship between persons or things wherein whatever affects one similarly affects the other

2a : inclination to think or feel alike : emotional or intellectual accord

3a : the act or capacity of entering into or sharing the feelings or interests of another

4 : the correlation existing between bodies capable of communicating their vibrational energy to one another through some medium



If "sympathy" is interpreted as being either 1a or 3a it would be very difficult for me to understand why this answer choice does NOT support the author's contention.

In contrast, if "sympathy" is interpreted as being either 2a or, obviously, 4, then it is perfectly reasonable to argue that AC A doesn't support the author's contention.




I have noticed a number of questions that appear to play on this "intentional misrepresentation of a term's definition" justification for why an AC is wrong.

Am I misunderstanding this or is this an accurate rationalization of why AC A is wrong? If so, is a best practice to err on the side of "if there are multiple dictionary definitions of a word, proceed with caution/look elsewhere"

Thanks!

[Brook Miscoski]

CPA2lawschool,

The passage claims that Nisa's experience is illuminating of the experience of women in general. To strengthen that concept, we should find a choice that indicates that other women have a similar experience to !Kung women. Answer choice (D) explicitly answers that call.

Looking at answer choice (A), you are interested in the multiple definitions of the word "sympathize." That analysis is not necessary or useful for eliminating (A), and I urge you not to get bogged down by such considerations during the test.

The natural reading of answer choice (A) is that other women are able to relate to Nisa's feelings about her tragedies or experience some compassion towards her tragedies. Neither the ability to relate nor the ability to experience compassion for tragedies shared by all sentient beings (like loss of loved ones) implies that the overall experience of life is similar. (D), on the other hand, identifies a group of women who factually have a substantially similar experience of life.

I wish you godspeed, and don't let yourself get bogged down!