#18 - Global Reference, Must Be True, Subject Perspective

[Administrator]

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!

[ksandberg]

I selected answer choice D and I am unsure as to why this is not correct. I thought that what is written in D - "the boundaries of applicability of terms may sometimes be difficult to determine, but the core meanings of the terms are well established" - is the same as what is said in lines 4-8 - "the boundaries of the application of a term are often unclear. Nevertheless, they maintain that the system of legal rule by and large rests on clear core meanings that do determine definite outcomes for most cases". I can see how the correct answer (A) is also correct, but is more general. Can you please explain why D is incorrect and why I should have chosen A over D? Thank you for your time.

[Francis O'Rourke]

Hi Sandberg,

The lines you cited do tell us that in most cases, the core meanings are clear. However Answer choice (D) implies that the core meanings are clear in all cases.

We do not know if most scholars today believe that the core meanings of all terms are well established in all cases, only that these scholars agree that "by and large", i.e. generally, the core meanings are clear.

[ksandberg]

Hi Francis,

Thanks for your reply. I don't see how answer choice D implies that the core meanings are clear in all cases. How does meanings are "well established" imply meanings are clear in "all cases"? The use of the word "well", to me, makes it clear that it is not necessarily clear in all cases but it is clear in most cases. For example, a similar term using "well" is "well known". If I say that my father is well known in the community, I am not saying that everyone in the community knows my father, only that many people know him. Can you please explain this? Thank you so much for your time.

[AthenaDalton]

Thanks for your follow-up question!

Answer choice (D) refers to the core meanings of terms (e.g., all terms) being well-established. In the legal world, if the meaning of something is well-established, it could be regarded as generally agreed upon, so that the outcome of a case will pretty rarely hinge on what a core term like "contract" or "murder" means. Whatever "well-established" means, it's probably opposite of "indeterminate" or "undefined."

Now contrast this with what the passage tells us about realist legal scholars. We are told in lines 10-15 that realists believe "indeterminacy pervades every part of the law." So they probably wouldn't agree that any particular term has a well-established meaning, as answer choice (D) suggests.

By contrast, we are told in lines 12-20 that realists argue that "linguistic vagueness" in any applicable rule in a case could produce multiple possible outcomes. This is pretty much word-for-word what answer choice (A) gives us -- a close match and the right answer!

Best of luck studying!

[biskam]

I am consistently getting Infer RC questions wrong... does anyone have any tips on how to tackle these? Or what I should be looking for in wrong answers? And in the right answer? Thanks!!

[nicholaspavic]

Hi biskam,

First question, are you prephrasing? As explained in the PowerScore Logical Reasoning Bible: "Prephrasing an answer involves quickly speculating on what you think the correct answer will be based on the information in the stimulus."

Approaching it in a different way can also be helpful, Nikki Siclunov wrote a great post about the link between Assumption questions and Must Be True questions that may be of great interest to you.

https://blog.powerscore.com/lsat/bid/28 ... Bedfellows

Let us know if this helps!

[kavyakarthic]

Hello,

Why is answer choice B incorrect? In A, the answer choice states that linguistic vagueness can cause indeterminacy in the outcome, but the passage states that legal scholars maintain that the system of legal rules by and large rests on clear core meanings that do determine definitive outcomes for most cases.

[Dana D]

Hey Kavyakarthic,

Realists hold that there are always a cluster of rules relevant to the decision in any litigated case (line 12-13), however we do not know whether these rules are possibly contradictory, as answer choice (B) demands. Therefore, it would be hard for us to say that legal scholars today do or do not agree with this concept. "Any" litigated case in this answer choice means there is not even one case where the rules are very clear and not contradictory - but there could definitely be instances of this. This answer choice is too broad in its claim and unsupported by the passage. Realists worry there is a possibility of a case having conflicting rules to apply, but they do not assert that this is the issue in every single litigated case.

Hope that helps!