Self-study
P1
In recent years, a growing belief that the way society decides what to treat as true is controlled through largely unrecognized discursive practices has led legal reformers to examine the complex interconnections between narrative and law. ██ ████ █████ ████████ █████ █████████ ███ █████ ██ █████████ ███████ █████ ███████ ███████ ██████ █████████ █████ ███████ ██████ ███ ██████ ████ ████████ ████ ███████ ██ ████ ███ ██████ ██████ ██ ██████ ███
Context ·
How do we decide what is true or false?
Legal systems use competing narratives about events; judges and juries assign "truth"
Introduce concept ·
Objectivism
The "objective" view is neutral, unbiased, and more reliable than other views
Apply concept ·
of objectivism to legal "truth"
Truth is found in an objective view of events
Criticism ·
No one holds an objective view
Support criticism ·
According to psychologists, everyone holds biases
Author's perspective ·
Legal views are subjective, not objective
P2
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Problem ·
Objectivist assumptions favor those with legal training
Accounts by those who understand the law are (wrongly) seen as objective and true; others accounts are (wrongly) seen as false
P3
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Solution ·
according to some legal scholars
Alternative legal narratives
Explain solution ·
Replace abstract objectivist discourse with personal narratives
Support solution ·
Personal stories elicit empathy
Implications of solution ·
Disruption of status quo, less advantage bestowed by legal training, emphasis on empathy
Passage Style
Critique or debate
Problem-analysis
9.
Which one of the following ████ ██████ ███ ████ ████ ██ ███ ████████
a
Some legal scholars ████ ██████ ██ ███████ ██████ ████████████ ████████ ████ ███████████ █████ █████████ ██ ███████████ ████ ██ ███ █████ ██ █████████ ███████ ██ █████ █████████
This misdescribes the solution. The legal scholars don’t propose to instruct people on the forms of discourse favored by legal insiders. Rather, they propose to include personal narratives as a legitimate part of legal discourse.
b
Some legal scholars ████ █████ ██ ███████ ███ ██████ ████ ██████ ██ ███ ███████████ ██████████ ████ ███ ████████ ████ █████ ███████ ███ ██████████
This doesn’t capture the solution advocated by the legal scholars in P4. In addition, the harm the author describes in the passage results not from the adversarial system, but from the objectivist principles that are part of traditional legal discourse.
c
Some legal scholars ████ ████████ ███████████ ███ ████ ██████ ██ ███ ██████████ ██ ███████████ ██████████ ██████ █████ █████████ ██ █████████ ████ █████████ ████ ███████████ █████ ██ █████ ██████████
This best captures the main point, which is the fact that
d
Some legal scholars ████ █████████ ████ █████ ███ ████ ████████ ████ ███████████ █████ ███████ █████ ██ █████████ ██ ███ ████████████ ██ █ ███ █████ ████████ ████ ██████ █████████ ███████████ ███████████
This gets the legal scholars’ solution wrong. They don’t propose a language that better reflects objectivist principles. They want to replace abstract discourse based on objectivist principles with narratives.
e
Some legal scholars ████ ██████ ████ ███ █████ ████ ████████ ██ ███████████ ██████ ███ ██ ████████ ██ ███████████ ████ ██ ██ ███ ████████ ██ ██████ █ ██████ ███████ ███████████ ██ █ ██████████ ██████
This gets the legal scholars’ solution wrong. Their solution isn’t merely to recognize that we can’t get a single neutral description of an event. They propose replacing abstract discourse with personal narratives.