#23 - Main Point

[Administrator]

Complete Question Explanation
(See the complete passage discussion here: lsat/viewtopic.php?t=11646)

The correct answer choice is (B)

The main point of the passage is prephrased in our VIEWSTAMP analysis in the passage discussion. Correct answer choice (B) provides the best representation of the author’s main point: Bentham’s approach was imperfect (it excluded almost nothing), but provided a better foundation for modern evidence law than the bizarre rules of the late eighteenth century.

[kcho10]

Hi,
I see how (B) is definitely the best of the answer choices, and I definitely got the vibe that the author did agree with Bentham with certain qualifications, but I'm having a hard time pinpointing exact words/phrases that make this apparent. Can someone explain how we know that the author thought that Bentham's proposal was beneficial? It seemed to me like 'widely used' would have been a better word...

I can tell that the passage starts off with the author disliking the traditional well-established laws, but just because the author talks about a proposed solution doesn't necessarily mean that he supports it in any way, right? I've seen some passages where the author talks about a problem, then talks about a proposed solution, and then destroys that solution as well.

I thought then that maybe it was the word 'revolutionary' (line 27), but does revolutionary always imply a positive tone?

Also, I saw in the last paragraph that the author talks about how modern evidence law soon prevailed after Bentham's death.
I also noticed how the author talks about how Bentham's principle is the main thrust of the current outlook (last paragraph), but to me it seemed like the author was only talking about Bentham's popularity, which doesn't seem to necessarily mean he agrees with Bentham

Are any of these valid reasons why we can say that the author does like Bentham's ideas to an extent? Are there other hints that I also missed? Thank you!

[Ricky_Hutchens]

Hi,

You've asked a good question. The first thing I would like to point out is that when you read this question, all of the other choices are flawed leaving only B as the best answer. But knowing that without eliminating the other choices can require picking up on subtle context clues.

Here, the author never comes right out and says that Bentham's reforms were beneficial, but notice how much space he spends outlining some of the rules that existed before Bentham. The author is very clear that all of these rules were flawed and often lead to incorrect outcomes in court. The author notes that these mistakes didn't need to occur if the system didn't rigidly stick to rules that often didn't make sense.

After this negative treatment of the then-existing rules, the author talks about Bentham's "revolutionary" approach. In this context, it is clear that the author is using "revolutionary" as praise for Bentham's rules.

The author does go on to explain a few gaps in Bentham's approach, but is never as negative as he was about the previous rules.

Hope that helps.

[kcho10]

Got it. Thank you!