PT122.S3.P3.Q18 > Analytics

Hide analysis

Surviving sources of information about women doctors in ancient Greece and Rome are fragmentary: some passing mentions by classical authors, scattered references in medical works, and about 40 inscriptions on tombs and monuments. ███

Intro to Topic · Not a lot of evidence about ancient female doctors

███ ████ ████ █████ █████████ ██ ███ █████ ████████ █ ████████ ███ ████████ █████ ████ ██ ███████ ██████ ███ ████ █████ █████ ██ █████ ██████ ███████ █████████ ███ ████ ███ ███████ ██████████ ██ ████ ██ ███ ████ ███████ ████████ ██ ███ ███████ ██ █████ ██ ████████ ██ ██ █████ ██████ ██ ████ ████ ███ █████████ ██████████ ███ █████ █████ ██ ████ ██ ████ ██ ██████ ██████ ██ ████ ██ ████ ████ █████████ ██ ████████ █████████ ██ ████████ ███████ █████████ ███ ████████ █████ ██████████ ████████ ██████████ ██ ████ █████

Main Point · There were female doctors in the ancient world

I'm anticipating that the rest of the passage will dive into the "evidence" for this claim.

Premise · Scant written evidence indicatives that presence of women doctors were taken for granted

Author seems to be claiming that if it was such an odd thing for women to be doctors that surely there would have been more written about this. But that there wasn't is taken to be evidence that women doctors were nothing special.

███ ████████ ██ ███ ████████ ████ ██████ ███ ████████ █████ ██████ █████████ ██ ███ █████████ ██ █████ ███████ ██ ███████ █████ ██████ █████ ███ ███ ████ ██ ███ ██████ ████ ██████ ██ ████████ ██ ██████ ██ ███ █████ ██ ███████ █████████ ██████████ ██ ███████ ██ ███████ ███ ████████ ██ ██████ ███ ███████ ████ ████ ██████ ██ ████ ██ ████ ████ ███ ███████ ██ █████████ █████ ██████ ███ ████ █████ █████ ██ ███ ██████ ██ ████████ ██████ ████ █████ █████ ██ ██ █████ ████████ ███████ ██ ██ ███████ ███ ██ █████ ████████████ ██ █████ ██████ ███ █████ ██ ████████ ██ █████████ ████ ████████ █████ ███████ ██████████ █████ ████ ██████ ███████ ██ ████ ██ █████

Example · Plato's The Republic refers to women doctors

He's was not arguing that women ought to be doctors. From his argument, we can infer that he and his society simply took it for granted that women already were doctors.

█████████ ███████ ████████ ████ ████ ██ █████ █████ ███████ ███████ ██████ ██████ █████████ █████ ████████ ███ ███████ ███ ███████ ██ ██████████ ████ █████ ███ █████ ████ ████████ █████ ███ ███████ ███ ███████ ███ █████████ █████ ███ ████████████ █████ ██ ██████ █████████████ ██ ███ ███████ █████ ██████████ ███████ ████████ ██ █ █████ █████ ██ ████████ ███ █████ ████████ ███ ███████ ███ ███ █████ ███████ ██████ ████ █████████ ████ ████████ ████ █████████ █ ███████ ██ ███████ █████████ ███ ██ ███████ ██ ███ ███████ ███ █████████ ██ ██████████

Premise · Women were not just midwives; they were doctors

Greek and Latin have different terms for "midwife" and "doctor." Texts suggest that they treated disease, not just delivered babies.

████ ████████ ██ █ █████ ███████ ████████ ███ ███ ██████████ ██ ███████ █████████ ███████ █████ ██ █ █████ ██████ ██ ███████ ████████ ██ ███████ █████████ █████ ████ ███ ████ ██████ ██ ███ ████████ █████ ██ ██████████ ███ ██████ █████ ███ ██████ ███ █████ ███████ ███████ ██ ████████████ ███████ █████ █████ ███ ████████ ███ █████████████ ██ ████ ███ ██████ ███████ █████████████████ ██████ ████ ███ ██ ███ █████ ███ ████ ██████ ██ ████ ███ ████ ███████ ████ █████ █████ █████ ███████ ██████ ████ ████████ ████ ███ ██████ ███████████ ███████ ███████ ████████████ ███████████ ██ ███████ ████████

Premise · Medical texts cited female doctors without special comment

Author takes this to be evidence that the presence of women doctors were taken for granted, that it wasn't special.

Passage Style

Single position

18.

Which one of the following ████ ██████████ █████████ ███ ████████ ████████ ██████ ███ ███████ ██ ███████████ █████████ ██ ███ █████ ████████ ██ ███ ████████

Question Type

Author’s attitude

Implied

This is an Implied question about the author’s attitude toward the surviving sources about women doctors in the ancient world. These sources are wide-ranging but fragmentary. Still, the author believes that they’re useful, and he uses them to support his argument that there were women doctors in the ancient world and they were an unremarkable part of life.

wary that they █████ ██ ██████████████ ███ ██ █████ ███████████ ██████

Unsupported. The author believes that the fragmentary sources are useful and that they support his argument well. He never suggests that they might be misinterpreted.

optimistic that with █ ████ ████████ ████████ ████ ████ █████ ███████ ██ ████ ███████ █████████ █████████

Unsupported. Even if we concede that the presence of women doctors in the ancient world constitutes a “crucial lingering question,” the author is not merely optimistic that the sources will yield answers. He’s certain that the sources prove that there were women doctors in the ancient world and that their presence was an unremarkable part of life.

15%

hopeful that they ████ ████ ██ ██ ████████ █████████ ██ ██████████ ██ █████████ █████████

Unsupported. The author never suggests that he hopes these sources will eventually be accepted by historians. As far as we know, they might already be accepted as authentic documents.

confident that they ███ ████████ ██████ ██ █████ ███ ████████ ███████ ██████████

Supported. The author uses the surviving sources about women doctors in the ancient world to support his entire argument. This suggests that he is confident that the sources are accurate enough to allow him to infer that there were women doctors in the ancient world and that their presence was an unremarkable part of life.

75%

convinced of their ███████████████ ██ ████ █████ ███ ███ ███████████ ██ █ ███ ██████████ ████████ ███████████

Unsupported. The author doesn’t say anything about “a new historical research methodology.” He just uses the surviving sources to support his own claims that there were women doctors in the ancient world and that their presence was an unremarkable part of life.

Answer five questions and we'll estimate your score.

It takes about five minutes.

Take the free diagnostic

More free LSAT prep: Sample LSAT questions Full-length diagnostic & practice test All free LSAT resources

PrepTest 122 - Section 3 - Passage 3 - Question 18

Answer five questions and we'll estimate your score.

Difficulty

Analysis

Answer Popularity

Question history

Confirm action

PrepTest 122 - Section 3 - Passage 3 - Question 18

Answer five questions and we'll estimate your score.

Difficulty

Analysis

Answer Popularity

Question history

Want to know why the right answer is right?