LSAT and Law School Admissions Forum

Get expert LSAT preparation and law school admissions advice from PowerScore Test Preparation.

 Administrator
PowerScore Staff
  • PowerScore Staff
  • Posts: 8980
  • Joined: Feb 02, 2011
|
#84633
Complete Question Explanation

The correct answer choice is (A).

Answer choice (A): This is the correct answer choice.

Answer choice (B):

Answer choice (C):

Answer choice (D):

Answer choice (E):

This explanation is still in progress. Please post any questions below!
User avatar
 dbersh
  • Posts: 1
  • Joined: Jan 06, 2025
|
#111328
Administrator wrote: Tue Mar 02, 2021 1:17 pm Complete Question Explanation

The correct answer choice is (A).

Answer choice (A): This is the correct answer choice.

Answer choice (B):

Answer choice (C):

Answer choice (D):

Answer choice (E):

This explanation is still in progress. Please post any questions below!

I had a hard time with this question, mostly because I was stuck between A and B. A says "logical thinking uninfluenced by passion" while B says "the interpretation of visual cues." The original line 43 says "Objectivist legal discourse systematically disallows the language of emotion and experience by focusing on cognition in its narrowest sense." When I read this, it made sense: objectivist discourse is trying to focus on the very bare facts of a story, without getting caught up in people's biases.

A and B both looked good to me, but I ultimately went with B. If objectivism is looking for a neutral description of a situation, "the interpretation of visual cues" felt like the most neutral possible way of describing something that happened. On the other hand, A also looked good to me, but I genuinely just could not decide which choice was the better one. Any thoughts?
User avatar
 Amber Thomas
PowerScore Staff
  • PowerScore Staff
  • Posts: 68
  • Joined: Oct 03, 2024
|
#111377
Hi Dbersh!

If we look at Lines 12-15, we can see that the passage states that: "Objectivism holds that there is a single neutral description of each event that is unskewed by any particular point of view and that has a privileged position over all other accounts."

Now, let's look at Lines 41-44: "Objectivist legal discourse systematically disallows the language of emotion and experience by focusing on cognition in its narrowest sense." The passage then proceeds to discuss how powerful and compelling personal stories may be able to sway legal insiders to listen to those not fluent in legal language, whereas objectivism heavily favors those who are fluent in legal language.

Finally, let's look at Lines 31-37: "The societal harm caused by the assumption of
objectivist principles in traditional legal discourse is that... the stories judged to be objectively true are those told by people who are trained in legal discourse, while the stories of those who are not fluent in the language of the law are rejected as false."

Since this passage is largely focused on the concept of narratives/stories/descriptions, we can rule out Answer Choice B, since "visual cues" are not necessarily playing a role here, whereas dispassionate logical thinking certainly is. Under objectivism, an attorney would be able to create a more compelling narrative/account than would a layman, solely based on their knowledge of legal discourse. Another factor to consider is that this passage doesn't discuss actual physical evidence much, or witness testimonies or anything like that, where visual cues would likely play more of a role.

I hope this helps!

Get the most out of your LSAT Prep Plus subscription.

Analyze and track your performance with our Testing and Analytics Package.