LSAT 127 – Section 2 – Question 17

LSAT 127 - Section 2 - Question 17

December 2003

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Question
QuickView		 Type Tags Answer
Choices		 Curve Question
Difficulty		 Psg/Game/S
Difficulty		 Explanation
PT127 S2 Q17
+LR
Point at issue: disagree +Disagr
Net Effect +NetEff
A
1%
156
B
14%
161
C
14%
160
D
4%
157
E
67%
166
145
156
167
 +Harder 146.61 +SubsectionMedium

Glen: An emphasis on law’s purely procedural side produces a concern with personal rights that leads to the individual’s indifference to society’s welfare. Law’s primary role should be to create virtuous citizens.

Sara: But such a role would encourage government to decide which modes of life are truly virtuous; that would be more dangerous than government’s being overprotective of individuals’ rights.

Speaker 1 Summary
Glen argues that the primary role of the law should be to create virtuous citizens. Why? Because focusing on the procedural aspect of law puts too much emphasis on individuals rather than overall societal welfare. (Glen appears to assume that the options are either a procedural focus or a focus on creating virtuous citizens.)

Speaker 2 Summary
Sarah implies the conclusion that the law’s primary focus should not be on creating virtuous citizens. Why? Because that focus would encourage the government to decide what counts as “virtuous,” which Sarah says is a worse alternative than caring too much about individuals. In other words, Sarah thinks that Glen’s conclusion would lead to a worse outcome than the issue Glen wants to solve.

Objective
We need to find a disagreement. Glen and Sarah disagree about whether the law’s primary role should be creating virtuous citizens.

A
citizens can be assumed to be capable of making good choices without governmental interference
Neither speaker talks about whether people are capable of making good choices without governmental interference. The discussion never touches on how the presence or absence of governmental interference changes people’s behavior.
B
virtuousness on the part of citizens is more important than the protection of citizens’ rights
Neither speaker considers the importance of virtuousness on the part of citizens. How citizens behave is actually pretty irrelevant to this discussion, which is about what role the law should prioritize.
C
there is an inherent danger in allowing government to decide what constitutes virtuous behavior among citizens
Sarah would likely agree with this, but Glen never expresses an opinion. Glen only mentions the dangers of government focusing on individual rights, and doesn’t talk about the possible dangers of government focusing on virtue.
D
an emphasis on law’s purely procedural side results in government’s being overprotective of citizens’ rights
Glen agrees with this, but Sarah doesn’t disagree. Sarah’s argument is that the alternative (government being too concerned with virtue) is worse. She never actually contradicts Glen’s claim about overprotecting individual rights.
E
the cultivation of virtue among citizens should be the primary role of law
This is the conclusion of Glen’s argument, meaning Glen agrees. Sarah’s argument, on the other hand, supports the unstated conclusion that this is not the case and that the law should focus on other roles. This is the disagreement.

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LSAT PrepTest 127 Explanations

Section 1 - Logical Reasoning

Section 2 - Logical Reasoning

Section 3 - Logical Reasoning

Section 4 - Reading Comprehension

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