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

[Administrator]

Complete Question Explanation
(See the complete passage discussion here: lsat/viewtopic.php?t=14060)

The correct answer choice is (E)

As discussed in the introduction to this passage, the function of the second paragraph is to provide more detail about natural selection and adaptation, generally, state an implication of the strict constructionist view, and introduce the Author’s use of evidence from nature, continued in the third and fourth paragraphs, to counter that view.

Answer choice (A): The strict constructionists’ view, that natural selection is responsible for all biological phenomena, was detailed in the first paragraph, not the second. While the second paragraph raises an implication of their view, it does not outline it.

Answer choice (B): It is true that the Author provides evidence undermining the strict constructionist view, but that evidence is provided in the third and fourth paragraphs, not the second.

Answer choice (C): This answer choice is incorrect for two reasons. First, the Author describes the strict constructionist view in the first paragraph, not the second. Further, the purpose of the second paragraph is not to show why the evidence in the third and fourth paragraphs have gotten attention, but rather introduce a weakness in the strict constructionist position and foreshadow the evidence to be presented in the third and fourth paragraphs.

Answer choice (D): An “enumeration” is a list. The Author did not provide a list of the strict constructionist arguments in any paragraph of the passage, let alone the second paragraph.

Answer choice (E): This is the correct answer choice. The phrase “ramifications of the strict constructionists’ claims” refers to the Author’s conditional statement spanning from the end of line 16 to the beginning of line 20. The language about clarifying the relevance of the evidence refers to the last sentence of the paragraph.

[gwlsathelp]

I would just like some clarification on the similarities of AC D and B, and how they are both wrong. Would it be correct to say that just like AC D and its stating "enumerations", AC B would also be wrong because it states "lists"?

[Albertlyu]

hi thanks, I can understand the ramification part, but what is "help clarify the relevance of the evidence offered in subsequent paragraphs"? the last sentence of the second paragraph obviously objects the above sentiment from strict constructionists, and serves as a summary for the following two paragraphs ie. the main conclusion that will be elaborated by 3rd and 4th paragraphs.

can someone please help? thanks.

[Jeremy Press]

Hi gw and Albert,

GW, you're right that there is a not a "list" of "recent" evidence in paragraph 2. The paragraph does refer in a general way to "numerous examples" of that kind of evidence. But that's only in the last sentence of a paragraph (not in a "list"), and nothing in that last sentence says whether such evidence is "recent." As the explanation above notes, there are specific examples of "recent" evidence given in the passage, but they come in paragraphs 3 and 4.

Albert, the part of paragraph 2 that "helps clarify the relevance of evidence offered in subsequent paragraphs" is the last sentence of paragraph 2. That sentence talks about the evidence (the "numerous examples") and clarifies that the attributes to be discussed in subsequent paragraphs "are not adaptations for reproductive success and of species whose success or failure had little to do with their adaptations." This clarifies the relevance of the examples, because it asserts that these examples do not fit with the strict natural selection notion of every attribute contributing to adaptation. If the example attributes were for adaptation, they would somehow boost reproductive success and the overall success or failure of the species.

I hope this helps!