#27 - Method of Reasoning

[Administrator]

Complete Question Explanation
(See the complete passage discussion here: lsat/viewtopic.php?t=14395)

The correct answer choice is (E)

This question asks us to identify a method of reasoning common to the arguments in both passages.
Given that you must track structure as you read, this question should be a fairly straightforward
exercise in matching answer choices to what you already know occurred in each passage.

Answer choice (A): Neither passage cites historical scholarship that fails to achieve objectivity.

Answer choice (B): Neither passage suggests that the credibility of history as a profession has been
undermined.

Answer choice (C): The author of passage A briefly mentions the opposing views of relativist
historians, while the author of passage B alludes to historians habituated to their customary
intellectual abode. However, neither argument can be properly described as summarizing an
opposing argument in order to point out its flaws.

Answer choice (D): Although the arguments in both passages advance by recommending the
adoption of various standards, there is no reason to suspect that these are standards used by
professionals in other fields.

Answer choice (E): This is the correct answer choice. Both authors highlight several obstacles
to achieving objectivity. To the author of passage A, achieving objectivity requires insulation from
bias and partisanship (lines 18-22). The obstacles mentioned in passage B include wishful thinking,
biased interpretations conflicting with the facts, and neutrality. Both authors regard propaganda as an
extreme obstacle to objectivity.

[ashpine17]

yeah I was down to C and E and I don't get how we're supposed to see E as obstacles; does obstacles just mean stuff that makes being objective more difficult? I don't get how C is incorrect because the answer above does admit that opposing arguments were talked about and i thought their flaws were pointed out.

[Adam Tyson]

Be very specific in your use of the text to prove that an answer is correct, ashpine. Exactly where in Passage A does the author point out flaws in an opposing argument? What specific text in Passage B does that? If you cannot identify the exact textual support, as our explanation at the top of this thread does for answer E, then you must not select that answer, or even allow yourself to be distracted by it.

This question, as with most Reading Comp questions, is a form of Must Be True. That means you have to rely on the textual evidence, and not on your assumptions or feelings about it. If you can't cite the evidence for a position, then you cannot support that position, no matter how much it feels right.