- PowerScore Staff
- Posts: 8948
- Joined: Feb 02, 2011
- Fri Apr 05, 2019 6:06 pm
#63917
Complete Question Explanation
Main Point—FIB. The correct answer choice is (A)
This stimulus ends with a fill-in-the-blank, which generally means on the LSAT that we are dealing
with a Main Point question. The conclusion indicator at the start of the last sentence (“therefore”)
should help you recognize that you are being asked for the conclusion of the argument.
Whenever the author begins an argument by outlining someone else’s position (“critics have argued
that…”), you should anticipate the author’s direct disagreement with that position. In this case, the
Freudian belief that people’s unconscious desires can defeat their rational life plans is criticized
by some as incompatible with the rationalistic spirit of Western philosophical and psychological
thought. However, the author points out, Freudianism also holds that awareness of previously
unconscious desires can allow a person to avoid being defeated by them. The blank which follows
will likely go on to point out that the critics are therefore wrong in their claims of incompatibility.
Answer choice (A): This is the correct answer choice. As prephrased above, the main point of
the stimulus is that there is not necessarily an incompatibility between Freudianism and Western
philosophical and psychological thought because answer choice (A) contains a statement that is the
exact opposite of the critics’ position, it must be the author’s main conclusion and is therefore the
correct answer choice.
Answer choice (B): The stimulus contains no evidence that Freudianism holds such a position, and
even if it did, that wouldn’t be the author’s main point.
Answer choice (C): The stimulus contains no evidence that Freudianism may be the beginning of a
new trend in Western philosophical thought. Remember—Main Point questions require an answer
that is provable by the information contained in the stimulus. Answers introducing new ideas cannot,
therefore, be correct.
Answer choice (D): It is one thing for the author to believe that psychoanalysis is not incompatible
with the rationalistic spirit of Western philosophical and psychological thought, and an entirely
different thing to claim that psychoanalysis provides one with a rational life plan. Given the author’s
disagreement with the critics, she might believe that a Freudian approach does not necessarily defeat
our attempts to follow rational life plans. However, this would merely be a subsidiary conclusion
of the argument, which, as a whole, is driven towards discrediting the claim that psychoanalysis is
incompatible with Western thought.
Answer choice (E): This answer choice goes too far. The author never claimed that Freudianism
reflects the rationalistic spirit of Western philosophical thought, let alone claimed that it does a better
job than any other psychological theory.
Main Point—FIB. The correct answer choice is (A)
This stimulus ends with a fill-in-the-blank, which generally means on the LSAT that we are dealing
with a Main Point question. The conclusion indicator at the start of the last sentence (“therefore”)
should help you recognize that you are being asked for the conclusion of the argument.
Whenever the author begins an argument by outlining someone else’s position (“critics have argued
that…”), you should anticipate the author’s direct disagreement with that position. In this case, the
Freudian belief that people’s unconscious desires can defeat their rational life plans is criticized
by some as incompatible with the rationalistic spirit of Western philosophical and psychological
thought. However, the author points out, Freudianism also holds that awareness of previously
unconscious desires can allow a person to avoid being defeated by them. The blank which follows
will likely go on to point out that the critics are therefore wrong in their claims of incompatibility.
Answer choice (A): This is the correct answer choice. As prephrased above, the main point of
the stimulus is that there is not necessarily an incompatibility between Freudianism and Western
philosophical and psychological thought because answer choice (A) contains a statement that is the
exact opposite of the critics’ position, it must be the author’s main conclusion and is therefore the
correct answer choice.
Answer choice (B): The stimulus contains no evidence that Freudianism holds such a position, and
even if it did, that wouldn’t be the author’s main point.
Answer choice (C): The stimulus contains no evidence that Freudianism may be the beginning of a
new trend in Western philosophical thought. Remember—Main Point questions require an answer
that is provable by the information contained in the stimulus. Answers introducing new ideas cannot,
therefore, be correct.
Answer choice (D): It is one thing for the author to believe that psychoanalysis is not incompatible
with the rationalistic spirit of Western philosophical and psychological thought, and an entirely
different thing to claim that psychoanalysis provides one with a rational life plan. Given the author’s
disagreement with the critics, she might believe that a Freudian approach does not necessarily defeat
our attempts to follow rational life plans. However, this would merely be a subsidiary conclusion
of the argument, which, as a whole, is driven towards discrediting the claim that psychoanalysis is
incompatible with Western thought.
Answer choice (E): This answer choice goes too far. The author never claimed that Freudianism
reflects the rationalistic spirit of Western philosophical thought, let alone claimed that it does a better
job than any other psychological theory.