#7 - 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!

[sarahlara]

Hello, can you please explain why A is correct? I picked D but I wasn't too set on this choice, as I was just overall confused. Please help and thank you!!

[Beth Hayden]

Hi Sarah,

The question is asking why, according to Posner, it's not a good idea to use literary criticism techniques to interpret laws. We can see the answer to that in the second to last paragraph, lines 36-41. Posner's argument is that the goal of literary criticism is to really dive deep into the text and look for different meanings and interpretations. Think to high school English classes where you may have talked about how different characters or situations carry deeper symbolism.

On the other hand, Posner says that the goal of interpreting laws is the opposite! He thinks that when lawyers read laws they try to find one single meaning--the current state of the law.

Those two different goals, finding a lot of different ways to interpret a story as opposed to finding one clear and consistent meaning, are incompatible. You can see that difficulty reflected in answer (A).

Answer choice (D) is definitely another great reason for why reading laws the same way you would read a novel is not a good idea, but that's not the question! The question is what Posner thinks, and the passage hasn't told us anything about Posner's views on precedent in this context.

Hope that helps!