#14 - Necessary Some people claim that every human discovery

[GLMDYP]

Some people claim... [Question content removed by Admin. LSAC rules unfortunately do not allow the posting of the text of complete LSAT questions. But, if you give us the test date or PrepTest number, the section, and the question number (which I put into the question title), we can find it easily and still answer the question. Thanks!]

I am confused.
Thanks!

[Steve Stein]

Hi GLMDYP,

Thanks for your message. It would be helpful to know how you broke that one down. Were you confused by the stimulus, the question, the answer choices?

Let me know--thanks!

~Steve

[GLMDYP]

Hi Steve! I'm confused at answer choice (C). Where is that "trivial" coming from? "Trivially" and "trivial" are not the same thing, right?
Thanks!

[Steve Stein]

Thanks for your response. In that one, the author's argument is that trivially, everything we do is an instance of self-expression, so we are not obliged to take seriously the claim that every human discovery or invention is an instance of self expression.

The question in that one asks for the answer choice that provides the most support for the author's conclusion; this is answer choice C, which provides that trivial claims are not worthy of serious consideration.

Reordered, we can see more clearly how this answer choice strengthens the author's argument:

Premise: Trivially, everything we do is self-expressive.
Answer C: Trivial claims are not worthy of serious consideration.

Strengthened conclusion: The trivial claim about self expression need not be taken seriously.

I hope that's helpful! Please let me know whether this is clear--thanks!

~Steve

[Nishbha]

Would this question, regarding the human discovery and invention are instances of self-expression, etc., be regarded a Justify question and not necessarily a Strengthen question (as it is currently listed). I was just wondering because when I treated as a strengthen question (as I originally understood it to be) I got the answer wrong, but when treated as a Justify question during my review, I got it correct. Just wondering if this is a correct way of looking at the question, or did I just get lucky?

[Dave Killoran]

Hi Nishbha,

Thanks for the question! No, the question stem is very clearly a Strengthen question: "Which one of the following, if true, provides the most support for the reasoning above?" (italics added for emphasis). There's no Justify language at all.

But, keep in mind that a Justify question is simply a full-power Strengthen question, so the two question types are very closely related. Indeed, every Justify question is, by definition, a Strengthen question.

In Strengthen questions what you'd like to see is an answer that Justifies the conclusion (as that would make the question easier), but you don't always get that type of answer. In many cases you simply get an answer that helps the argument in some way (but doesn't prove it). So, to look at a question stem like this as a Justify question is dangerous, because in many instances you would find that none of the answers looked correct to you.

Please let me know if that helps. Thanks!

[mab2013]

So, the author says, "trivally, anything we do it self-expressive". I'm having a hard time seeing how we should assume self-expression to be trivial. The author makes his claim that in a state of trivialness. Why should we assume a state of trivialness. Shouldnt the answer say "No claim that is self expressive is no worthy of serious consideration. Basically, Im just have a hard time seeing why the author is making this about things being trivial. Can you clarify?

[Steve Stein]

Hi,

Thanks for your response. It might help to rephrase this one slightly: Some claim that every discovery and invention represents self-expression. This claim is trivial, though (i.e., not important or interesting), since everything we do is an instance of self expression. So,until they interpret it in a more interesting way, we don't need to take it seriously.

Again, for clarity: the author asserts that the claim is trivial, and based on this, the author concludes that the claim need not be taken seriously.

The right answer choice basically provides that if a claim is trivial, it doesn't need to be taken seriously. As such this choice strengthens the author's argument.

I hope that's helpful! Please let me know whether this is clear--thanks!

~Steve

[jonwg5121]

Why would (A) not work? To my understand the conclusion states "Obliged to take claim seriously-->more interesting interpretation". The premise establishes that the claim is trivial but may not be uninteresting. Wouldn't (A) fill that logical gap? Thanks

[jeff.wren]

Hi jonwg5121,

The gap in the argument is between trivial and not obliged to take seriously. If you look at the conclusion, the concept of not being obliged to take the claim seriously is new information that has not been discussed in any of the premises.

We need to bridge the gap between trivial and not taking something seriously, which (C) does. The problem with (A) is that it doesn't address the idea of not taking the claim seriously and therefore does not help us get to this conclusion.

While it may seem obvious that a claim that is trivial should not be taken seriously, this needs to be established in the argument.

Hope this helps.

Best,
Jeff