LSAT 120 – Section 3 – Question 09

LSAT 120 - Section 3 - Question 09

October 2005

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Question
QuickView		 Type Tags Answer
Choices		 Curve Question
Difficulty		 Psg/Game/S
Difficulty		 Explanation
PT120 S3 Q09
+LR
Point at issue: disagree +Disagr
Value Judgment +ValJudg
A
6%
156
B
1%
150
C
7%
157
D
75%
165
E
10%
157
142
152
161
 +Medium 146.629 +SubsectionMedium

Laird: Pure research provides us with new technologies that contribute to saving lives. Even more worthwhile than this, however, is its role in expanding our knowledge and providing new, unexplored ideas.

Kim: Your priorities are mistaken. Saving lives is what counts most of all. Without pure research, medicine would not be as advanced as it is.

Speaker 1 Summary

Laird doesn’t make an argument, instead just stating the claim that pure research provides more value through expanding our knowledge than it does by helping to save lives.

Speaker 2 Summary

Kim’s argument supports the unstated conclusion that the most important contribution of pure research is in fact its medical applications. This is supported by the principle that saving lives is the most important goal, and the statement that pure research has helped to improve medicine (thereby presumably saving lives).

Objective

We’re looking for a point of disagreement. Laird and Kim disagree about whether medical advancements are the most valuable result of pure research.

A
derives its significance in part from its providing new technologies

Both speakers agree with this. Laird acknowledges that new technologies are an important result of pure research, just not the most important result. Kim places even more importance on the development of medical technology.

B
expands the boundaries of our knowledge of medicine

Both speakers almost certainly agree with this. Both Laird and Kim discuss the role of pure research in advancing medicine, which strongly implies that pure research has improved our knowledge of medicine.

C
should have the saving of human lives as an important goal

Kim agrees with this, but Laird never disagrees. Laird explicitly acknowledges the importance of pure research helping to save lives—the issue is just whether that’s the most important goal.

D
has its most valuable achievements in medical applications

Laird disagrees with this but Kim agrees, so this is the point at issue. Laird thinks that the most valuable achievements of pure research are in expanding our knowledge and providing new ideas, whereas Kim states that saving lives through medical advancement is more important.

E
has any value apart from its role in providing new technologies to save lives

Laird agrees with this, but Kim never disagrees. Kim’s argument is just that saving lives is the most important result of pure research, not that pure research has no other value.

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LSAT PrepTest 120 Explanations

Section 1 - Logical Reasoning

Section 2 - Reading Comprehension

Section 3 - Logical Reasoning

Section 4 - Logical Reasoning

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