LSAT 153 – Section 2 – Question 13

LSAT 153 - Section 2 - Question 13

June 2019

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Question
QuickView		 Type Tags Answer
Choices		 Curve Question
Difficulty		 Psg/Game/S
Difficulty		 Explanation
PT153 S2 Q13
+LR
Weaken +Weak
Analogy +An
A
4%
153
B
91%
162
C
0%
148
D
1%
147
E
4%
152
132
140
148
 +Easier 146.684 +SubsectionMedium

The use of ordinary dictionaries in interpreting the law is justified in the same way that chemists use the periodic table. The periodic table is a convenient source of agreed-upon background information that can be usefully applied to the problem on which a chemist is working. In the same way, ordinary dictionaries can be useful to a legal interpreter in resolving terminological issues.

Summarize Argument
The author concludes that the use of ordinary dictionaries is justified in interpreting the law. This is based on an analogy to how chemists use the periodic table. The periodic table is a source of agreed-upon background information that can be useful for chemists. The author believes that ordinary dictionaries can be useful to legal interpreters trying to resolve terminological issues in the same way that periodic tables are useful for chemists

Notable Assumptions
The author assumes that the relationship between periodic tables and the problems chemists work on is relevantly similar to the relationship between ordinary dictionaries and the resolution of terminological issues.

A
The periodic table lists the properties of the elements, and presents them in a pattern to represent relations between them, while an ordinary dictionary mostly just gives an alphabetical ordering to the words it defines.
This difference concerns how the content is laid out in periodic tables and dictionaries. But this difference doesn’t have an impact on the usefulness of each item.
B
There is wide agreement about the data on the periodic table, while disagreements between the definitions in different ordinary dictionaries are likely to be relevant to legal interpretation.
This points out a difference that is relevant to the usefulness of dictionaries in resolving disputes about terms. If there are disagreements about definitions, then dictionaries aren’t useful to solving disputes in the same way that periodic tables are useful to chemists.
C
The use of a periodic table as a reference source actually came much later in history than the use of ordinary dictionaries to describe the meanings of words.
When periodic tables and dictionaries came about doesn’t impact the usefulness of a dictionary for solving disputes about terms.
D
The periodic table contains only a relatively small amount of information that could, in theory, be memorized, while the information in an ordinary dictionary is likely to be too large for any one person to know all at once.
How easy the content is to memorize doesn’t affect the usefulness of an ordinary dictionary for resolving interpretation of terms.
E
The periodic table is used primarily by chemists, while ordinary dictionaries are not used primarily by legal scholars and legal interpreters.
Whether dictionaries are currently used to resolve interpretations does not affect whether they would be useful to scholars and interpreters in the same way that a periodic table is useful to chemists.

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LSAT PrepTest 153 Explanations

Section 1 - Reading Comprehension

Section 2 - Logical Reasoning

Section 3 - Logical Reasoning

Section 4 - Reading Comprehension

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