#10 - Specific Reference, Must Be True, Purpose/Function

[Administrator]

Complete Question Explanation

The correct answer choice is (B).

Answer choice (A):

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

Answer choice (C):

Answer choice (D):

Answer choice (E):


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

[lathlee]

Hi. I do not understand why the correct is not A. I understand A and B is rather similar. But It seems like Aristotle quote seems/serves like introducing function as well for the defending/ explaining latter parts of webster's concepts.

[James Finch]

Hi Lathlee,

While perhaps seeming similar on first glance, the difference between answer choices (A) and (B) are that (A) references "a commonly held view...that the author plans to defend." The "commonly held view" exists in that sentence, referencing critics' view of the "element of inconsistency as...an eccentric feature of Webster's" which is what the author of the passage is trying to debunk, partially using Aristotle's quote to do so.

(B) references the same elements as (A), but structures them in an order logically supported by the passage, as the author is using Aristotle's view to show that, contrary to the popular critical view, Webster's inconsistent characters are not "idiosyncratic."

Hope this helps!

[Khodi7531]

Damn, so I thought the commonly held view was actually about Aristotle. I thought when it was saying "yet critics keep coming back to this element of inconsistency" it was equivalent to the Aristotle comment (like it was trying to say) and so chose A.

If I had realized the commonly held view was the part after Aristotle, I would have immediately known the author doesn't defend that.

[Emily Haney-Caron]

Hi Khodi,

Looks like you were able to trouble-shoot this one on your own! It is always frustrating to misinterpret or misread a passage, but I think the greatest LSAT strides come from being able to do a post-question analysis of where you went wrong. Great work on this one!

[crispycrispr]

Hi,

I was wondering why (C) is wrong. The main point of the passage is criticizing the approach of interpreting Webster's work as purely a morality play--is that not what the allusion to Aristotle is helping in doing? Is (C) wrong because it's not Aristotle's approach, but the critics' approach, that the author is criticizing? I guess I got a little confused here. I can see why the right answer is right, but I'm not seeing where this is wrong. Don't the critics also adopt Aristotle's approach in seeing Webster's work as a morality play?

[Adam Tyson]

Aristotle's view is mentioned to show that what Webster did was nothing new or weird. The author thinks the Aristotelian view taken by Webster is valid and that critics who view Webster through the lens of the morality play and standard Elizabethan drama are doing it wrong. So Aristotle's view is not the one the author is criticizing, and that's what makes C an opposite answer and therefore incorrect.