#23 - Author's Perspective

[Administrator]

Complete Question Explanation
(See the complete passage discussion here: lsat/viewtopic.php?t=11630)

The correct answer choice is (B)

The question stems asks for the author’s primary concern. Again, the author is primarily interested in discussing the concept of legal reasoning systems and the associated challenges.

Answer choice (A): Although the author does allude to the potential benefits of legal reasoning systems, this is not the primary concern.

Answer choice (B): This is the correct answer choice, as the author is interested in discussing the challenges of such systems—the subtleties of law that make interpretation and determination of relevance difficult.

Answer choice (C): There is no such demonstration—the author focuses on the challenges that are sure to come with systems based on precedent, so this answer choice should be eliminated.

Answer choice (D): The passage provides no such suggestion, and while this may be true, it is not supported by the passage and certainly not the primary focus.

Answer choice (E): While the author could be a proponent of the use of computers in the law office, the primary concern is to note that legal reasoning systems are sure to bring challenges during development.

[seanm_6]

Confused why answer D is wrong. In my view, the third paragraph suggests that computer programmers must use their own knowledge to create legal reasoning systems and this is their major flaw.


I didn't read answer choice D as the author saying computer programmers must apply their human intituion like as a recoomendation for what they should do in the future. But rather, what he believes is the current issue with computer legal reasoning; they are inherently based on subjective human input.


The reason I didn't pick B is because I don't see how the author's problem with computer legal programs was their inability to deal with "subtle" nuances; but rather, their general inability to even conduct proper legal reasoning because legal reasoning is inherently human.


I just don't see how B captures the main purpose, and how D isn't a direct implication of what the author said in paragraph 3. Is it because it is only from para 3 and for main purpose we need something that aligns with every paragraph in the passage?

[Jeff Wren]

Hi sean,

This question is asking for the author's primary concern/purpose for the passage as a whole.

In answering these types of questions, the first place to start is determining what is the main point of the passage. While purpose questions are not identical to main point questions, they are related.

For example, the main point of this passage (as expressed in the correct Answer A to question 21) is that "attempts to model legal reasoning through computer programs have not been successful because of the problems of interpreting legal discourse and identifying appropriate legal precedents." The support for this answer appears mostly at the end of the first paragraph (lines 8-16). Of course, it is really important to understand the main point of the passage and to get the main point question correct if there is one, because everything starts going downhill if you're unclear on the main point of the passage.

Now, since the main point of the passage is that the attempts to model computer legal reasoning systems have failed due to "difficulty in resolving problems in the meaning and applicability of rules set out in a legal text" (lines 14-16), the author is primarily concerned with showing how/why these computer legal reasoning systems have failed. And the major reason addressed in the second paragraph for why they have failed involves the "problems of interpretation that can arise at every stage of the legal argument" (lines 24-25) and how some ideas in statutes are "deliberately left undefined so as to allow the law to be adapted to unforeseen circumstances" (lines 30-33).

Answer B best addresses these ideas. Based on your comments, I think that you may have been turned off by the words "subtle nuances" in this answer. While those exact words aren't used in the passage, they get at the idea of "situations that are open to differing interpretations" (line 26). The word "nuance" means a subtle difference in meaning. The example the passage gives of a whether a mobile home should be considered a house or a motor vehicle is not clear cut or straitforward, as a mobile home has features of a house and a motor vehicle. In other words, the answer is nuanced and depends on the context.

Unfortunately, there is no support for Answer D in the passage, either stated outright or implied. There is no discussion in the passage of how the programmers can solve the problems with the computer legal reasoning systems.

Finally, it's important to prephrase the answer to questions like this, as you will be less likely to be tempted by answers like D. Unless you came up with the idea of computer programmers having to use their human intuition when designing the legal reasoning system on your own before reading Answer D (an idea that does not appear in the passage), you shouldn't talk yourself into this answer.