#11- Specific Reference, Must Be True, Purpose

[sanderina]

I'm not quite clear why C is wrong. In the passage, it mentioned it was necessary to maintain the fairness (an ethical standard), otherwise it would be disappointing for the law students (professions) and the public (citizenry). Seems it matches with C quite well.

I can see why D is correct though.

[Robert Carroll]

sanderina,

The passage does not say that the political aspect of ignoring the historical origins of the common law ensures its fairness. It says, instead, that believing in its fairness is necessary - it doesn't need to be fair, as its actual fairness is beside the point, but it must be believed to be fair. Thus, "ethical standards" are not necessarily enforced. Instead, a lack of belief in the fairness of the common law would be dispiriting and demoralizing, and the law would not be able to function.

Answer choice (C) is talking about ethical standards between professions and the citizenry - this would be something like an ethical standard of professional conduct, saying (for instance) what a lawyer should do to represent a client in an ethical manner, or what standards a doctor should have when treating patients. The word "political" is not used in such a way in the passage.

Robert Carroll

[chian9010]

Could anyone please explain why D is the correct answer? There is nowhere in the passage mentioning about effectiveness tho...

[Brook Miscoski]

Chian,

"Political" is defined in the passage as having to do with preserving the prestige and belief in the legal system by preserving a belief in its fairness and logic. Even though none of the choices directly state that, (D) does have to do with the effectiveness of the institution. That's a step away from the words of the passage, but it's easy to see that if people didn't believe in the fairness and logic of the system it might not be effective. Looking at the other choices:

(A) the passage is not about personal advancement
(B) secrecy is the opposite of the passage
(C) a trap for people who demand a literal answer and look to line (39). What's important is that (C) is about dealings between professionals and citizens, whereas line 39 does not discuss their dealings with each other.
(E) there's no support that we're discussing radical theory

[LsatSurvivor03]

sanderina,

The passage does not say that the political aspect of ignoring the historical origins of the common law ensures its fairness. It says, instead, that believing in its fairness is necessary - it doesn't need to be fair, as its actual fairness is beside the point, but it must be believed to be fair. Thus, "ethical standards" are not necessarily enforced. Instead, a lack of belief in the fairness of the common law would be dispiriting and demoralizing, and the law would not be able to function.

Answer choice (C) is talking about ethical standards between professions and the citizenry - this would be something like an ethical standard of professional conduct, saying (for instance) what a lawyer should do to represent a client in an ethical manner, or what standards a doctor should have when treating patients. The word "political" is not used in such a way in the passage.

Robert Carroll

But it does explicitly state the professional conduct for how a lawyer should represent a client. "The prestige of the legal institution requires that jurisprudence treat the tradition as if it were, in essence, the application of known rules to objectively determine facts. To suggest otherwise would be dispiriting for the student..."

First, how would this not be a standard, does the phrase "to suggest otherwise" not indicate that there is a sort of expectation from the public? Second, wouldn't this be an explicit ethical standard of professional conduct? This shows exactly how lawyers should approach cases, that is, to apply rules in an objective manner.