#19 - Global Reference, Must Be True, Author's Perspective

[Administrator]

Please post your questions below!

[lilmissunshine]

Hello,

Could you explain why (E) is incorrect? I can't find any support for "recoup the cost" in (A).. Many thanks!

[ltowns1]

Yes, I would love to know the answer to this as well. The best justification I can come up with starts with the fact that there is no affirmative reason given why copyright law should be modified. I thought this to begin with, but when I saw (A) I had no idea where they got the cost part from either. If I had to guess, I would say that we're told in paragraph two that intellectual property is tied to a loss of recouping money for their jokes. In paragraph three, we're told that social norms take the place of intellectual property. Hence, the connection between social norms and costs..that's the best I got for this one lol. I think the only way to get this one quickly is by elimination. Hope it helps somebody.

[Brook Miscoski]

Hello, sunshine.

For this question stem, you should pick an answer that is consistent with the author's perspective. In marking up the passage, you should take note of the author's viewpoint and the various arguments the author considers. Those lead directly to the correct answer for this question.

In paragraph 1, the problem the author identifies is that enforcing copyright law is too expensive for comedians. In paragraph 2, the author says this is a problem because comedians won't make jokes if they can't "recoup their costs" (line 20). In paragraph 3, the author explains how social norms help comedians to protect their jokes and "maintain substantial incentives to invest in new material" (last line). Answer choice (A) is very close to the main idea of passage A, and is directly supported by passage A.

[shanhickey]

Hello!

I got this answer right, but I want to make sure I chose correctly for the right reasons. I remember choosing A because I found the sentence about recouping costs. B and C I immediately crossed off. D and E were harder to cross off, in my opinion. I crossed off E as wrong because the author is not making a suggestion in one way or another, they are simply stating this is an alternative system. However, is D wrong because the author never states that legal avenues are "less efficient"? In my mind, D is harder than E to cross off.

Thanks in advance for checking my reasoning!!!

[Rachael Wilkenfeld]

Hi Stan,

Answer choice (D) is just way way too broad to be supported here. Just because the intellectual property system is less efficient for comedians than a social norms based system doesn't mean that intellectual property law in general is less efficient. Social norms work for comedians because it's a fairly close community with clear norms. In broader communities we'd have no reason to think that a social norms based system would be effective, much less more efficient.

For answer choice (E), notice that the answer choice is phrased in terms of what should be done, not on what is actually done. Our stimulus was all about what actually occurs. We can't jump from a set of facts about what does occur to an opinion about what should be done.

Good work on this one.

[cd1010]

I picked E when I first did this test, and I just want to make sure I have the correct process for next time. I have a follow-up question regarding the explanation from Rachel:

"For answer choice (E), notice that the answer choice is phrased in terms of what should be done, not on what is actually done. Our stimulus was all about what actually occurs. We can't jump from a set of facts about what does occur to an opinion about what should be done. "

I normally am skeptical of prescriptive statements in the LSAT, but when the author is arguing for something, then I feel it's more fair game. So, I didn't think the passage was just a 'set of facts'. When I read E, I thought that this was underlying the Passage A. I interpreted the first paragraph of passage A to be subtly hinting at a preference for copyright law. As if to say something like, if only it were cheaper to go through legal means, then comedians would do it. Maybe my issue was in thinking that there was a subtly prescriptive tone in Passage A, when in fact it was more neutral about copyright law? (This might relate to a general assumption I have that LSAT is positive towards regulation).

[Dana D]

Hey CD,

Yes, I wouldn't attribute any qualities to the overall test or test-makers such as them being pro-regulation, rather, look at the actual authors of each passage individually. The author of passage A states why comedians do not utilize legal means, but the passage is not making an case for why copyright law needs to be changed to better serve this group. In fact, the author explains, there is already a pretty effective means of intellectual property regulation among comedians: social norms. It's not clear whether the author feels continued reliance on social norms as a form of regulation is sufficient or if copyright law should be changed so comedians can utilize that instead, therefore answer choice (E) cannot be the right answer.