#12 - Must Be True

[Administrator]

Complete Question Explanation
(See the complete passage discussion here: lsat/viewtopic.php?t=10960)

The correct answer choice is (C)

This question asks us to identify the abstract relationship between the two passages. While understanding Passage Similarities and Differences is key, pay close attention to the general purpose behind each passage.

Answer choice (A): Both passages discuss and reject the view that bees rely on olfactory cues: this is not a position that is put forth in Passage B.

Answer choice (B): This is the Reverse answer: it is Passage B that gives several examples of a phenomenon for which Passage A gives only one example.

Answer choice (C): This is the correct answer choice. Passage A is concerned in its entirety with the phenomenon of foraging honeybee’s dance, whereas Passage B discusses this phenomenon in support of a more general thesis regarding animal communication.

Answer choice (D): Passage B does not argue that the honeybee’s dance cannot be plausibly explained.

Answer choice (E): This answer choice may seem attractive, because Passage A certainly delves into a more detailed historical account than Passage B does. Nevertheless, to suggest that the honeybee’s dance is the primary concern of Passage B is a misstatement. As discussed in Passage Similarities and Differences above, Passage B merely mentions the dance as an example of symbolic animal communication.

[15veries]

Hi,

Could you elaborate a bit?

So I was not sure between C and D.
While I thought "cannot be plausibly explained" is a bit strong, in passage B it does not give a concrete explanation neither (so "they do not automatically follow just any info"...and it sounds like there are a couple of possibilities or ways they find food&communicate...)
For C I was not sure about the part "entirety", "general"...those words themselves are general and I was not sure what they refer to.

[Kristina Moen]

Hi 15veries,

The author of Passage A focuses exclusively on how honeybees communicate. The author outlines observations and discoveries about how honeybees communicate.

The author of Passage B tells us that some animals communicate symbolically. The author offers the honeybee and vervet monkey as examples of animals communicating symbolically.

Thus, Answer Choice (C) is correct: Passage A is concerned in entirety with a phenomenon (how honeybees communicate) that Passage B discusses in support of a more general theses (some species communicate symbolically).

[hadimadi]

Hello,

I was struggling between A and C, and choose A, as:

Passage A concludes that bee communication is based essentially on sound. Passage B, on the other hand, says it is purely symbolic. That is contradictory. Passage A starts with von Frisch, who believed that a pattern in the dance, which is symbolic, is the main way of communication. However, at the end of A, we know that this is not true, but sound is the essential component.
Passage B never talks about sound, and assumes that the dance and maybe the odor are factors. But the odor is then excluded in the end of Passage B.

So Passage A rejects a position in Passage B, namely, the position that the dance symbolically communicates the information (distance, direction etc), because Passage A says it is mainly the sound.

Now, one could argue that "essentially" doesn't mean 'fully' and thereby, there is no contradiction.
But then, Passage A also says that bees have the ability to effectively communicate even in COMPLETE darkness -> symbolics can't be a decisive factor.

So I had all that in mind, and then chose A, even though I think C is just as correct. C is the more direct and obvious answer, but A is also one in my opinion.

Could you please elaborate?

Thanks

[Robert Carroll]

hadimadi,

Passage A concludes that bee communication is based essentially on sound. Passage B, on the other hand, says it is purely symbolic. That is contradictory.

This is a misunderstanding. Symbolic communication can be based on sound - Passage B even says that. In the first paragraph, there are auditory methods of communication by monkeys that are symbolic. So there is no conflict between something being based on sound and being symbolic.

I think that misunderstanding is really the only thing holding you back on this one, so I hope things are ok now. If there are any other problems, let me know!

Robert Carroll

[hadimadi]

Ah i get it, monkeys also communicate symbolically, and then, they bring forward the example of sounds. So symbolical communication can include sound too.
That's what was confusing me already during the text ...
I got it now, thanks a lot Robert!