LSAT 120 – Section 3 – Question 12

LSAT 120 - Section 3 - Question 12

October 2005

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Question
QuickView		 Type Tags Answer
Choices		 Curve Question
Difficulty		 Psg/Game/S
Difficulty		 Explanation
PT120 S3 Q12
+LR
Most strongly supported +MSS
Fill in the blank +Fill
A
91%
164
B
1%
150
C
2%
155
D
5%
155
E
1%
151
135
143
151
 +Medium 146.629 +SubsectionMedium

Critics have argued that because Freudianism holds that people have unconscious desires that can defeat their attempts to follow rational life plans, it is incompatible with the predominantly rationalistic spirit of Western philosophical and psychological thought. But it is a central tenet of Freudianism that through psychoanalysis one can become conscious of one’s previously unconscious desires, enabling one to avoid being defeated by them. Therefore, _______.

Summary
According to critics: Freudianism is incompatible with Western rationalism, because Freudianism believes in unconscious desires that can interfere with rational planning. But according to the author, Freudianism also believes that it’s possible to become aware of your unconscious desires and defeat them with rational thought.

Strongly Supported Conclusions
The stimulus supports the inference that, in Freudian thought, unconscious desires do not inevitably defeat rational planning. We can also infer that Freudianism isn’t truly opposed to Western rationalism, because it holds that rational thought can still overcome unconscious desires.

A
Freudianism does not run counter to the rationalistic mainstream of Western philosophical and psychological thought
This is strongly supported by the stimulus. Because the irrational unconscious desires in Freudian thought can still be defeated by rational thought after psychoanalysis, rational thought ultimately triumphs. This means Freudianism is compatible with rationalism.
B
Freudianism holds that people can always achieve happiness through psychoanalysis
This is unsupported. The stimulus never talks about happiness, so we just don’t know what Freudianism says about achieving happiness.
C
Freudianism may be the beginning of a new trend in Western philosophical and psychological thought
This is not supported by the stimulus. The author’s claims deal with the apparent conflict between Freudianism and Western rationalism, but nothing in the stimulus suggests that Freudianism is likely to defeat rationalism as the new dominant trend.
D
psychoanalysis provides one with a rational life plan
This is not supported. The author only says that psychoanalysis can help people to defeat unconscious desires that could interfere with their pre-existing life plans. That doesn’t suggest that psychoanalysis provides new rational life plans.
E
Freudianism reflects the predominantly rationalistic spirit of Western philosophical and psychological thought more than any other psychological theory
The stimulus does not support this claim. The author’s statements allow us to infer that Freudianism and Western rationalism are not incompatible, but it doesn’t follow that no other theory has a greater influence on Freudianism.

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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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