LSAT 154 – Section 1 – Question 16

LSAT 154 - Section 1 - Question 16

September 2017

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Question
QuickView		 Type Tags Answer
Choices		 Curve Question
Difficulty		 Psg/Game/S
Difficulty		 Explanation
PT154 S1 Q16
+LR
+Exp
Weaken +Weak
Causal Reasoning +CausR
A
18%
158
B
4%
154
C
67%
165
D
2%
154
E
8%
157
148
156
164
 +Harder 147.621 +SubsectionMedium

The prevailing view among historians is that medieval European peasants were deeply dedicated to religion. But the record keepers in medieval Europe were members of the clergy. It should not surprise us that chroniclers who were professionally occupied with religion would exaggerate people’s religious devotion. Thus, there is reason to doubt the prevailing view of medieval peasants’ piety.

Summarize Argument
The author concludes that that there’s reason to think that medieval peasants were not deeply dedicated to religion. This is because the recordkeepers who recorded the religious devotion of peasants were members of the clergy, who we would expect to exaggerate peasants’ level of religious dedication.

Notable Assumptions
The author assumes that the recordkeepers actually exaggerated peasants’ level of religious dedication. (This overlooks the possibility that, even though we might expect them to have a motive to exaggerate dedication, they did not in fact exaggerate in their records.)

A
Among the written records produced by clergy in medieval Europe and currently available to historians are a number of documents detailing nonreligious, as well as religious, activities of peasants.
The author never assumed that clergy only recorded religious activities of peasants. The assumption is that the level of religious dedication was exaggerated; but this allows for plenty of records related to nonreligious things.
B
Many members of the clergy in medieval Europe spent more time among peasants than among people of any other social class.
This has no clear impact. We don’t know how the amount of time spent among peasants relates to the possibility that clergy exaggerated the level of peasants’ religious dedication.
C
Written records produced by clergy in medieval Europe very rarely portray merchants or nobles as being dedicated to religion.
This undermines the assumption that the clergy exaggerated peasants’ religious dedication. We would expect clergy to exaggerate other peoples’ dedication, too. But if they didn’t exaggerate for merchants/nobles, that suggests they might not have exaggerated for peasants, too.
D
Historians cannot develop a reliable account of the religious attitudes held during any given historical period unless they have consulted all of the relevant surviving records from that period.
This has no clear impact. We don’t know whether historians have consulted all relevant surviving records. Also, even if historians can’t develop a reliable account, that’s consistent with the author’s position that we have reason to doubt the prevailing view.
E
Documents produced by clergy in medieval Europe contain detailed descriptions of participation by peasants and others in religious activities.
The author already recognizes this possibility. His position is that these descriptions are likely to be exaggerations.

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LSAT PrepTest 154 Explanations

Section 1 - Logical Reasoning

Section 2 - Logical Reasoning

Section 3 - Reading Comprehension

Section 4 - Logical Reasoning

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