PT124.S4.P3.Q19 > Analytics

Hide analysis

The passages discuss relationships between business interests and university research.

███████ █

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

Problem · Trend of treating university research findings as commodities

Threatens the tradition and role of research as a public good.

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

Details of problem · Universities are suited to experimentation, but businesses are not

Introduction of market values into universities threatens the universities' traditional role.

Additional details of problem · Businesses can hide their own research

For example, growth of industrial biotechnology has led to less sharing of research in the field.

███████ █

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

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

Traditional perspective · Scientific research was a public good

Since most benefits of research came from government support of universities, no individual had the right to restrict access to those benefits.

New perspective · Research is becoming market commodity subject to claims of intellectual property

Example: biotechnology industry uses research to make profits off of products. They can claim that the underlying scientific knowledge is their intellectual property.

Passage Style

19.

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

Many scientific researchers ███ ██████████ ██████ ██ ████████████ ████ █████ ██ ████ ██ ███ █████████████ █████████

Passage A doesn’t suggest that researchers from universities have transitioned to work in the biotech industry. Although the author notes that there has been a growth of industrial biotechnology, we don’t know that this growth involves former university researchers joining the industry. (Passage B also doesn’t support (A).)

Private biotechnology companies ████ █████████ ████████ ███ █████ ████████ ████████ ██ ██████████ ████████████

Passage A doesn’t provide evidence of any invalid patenting. (Passage B also doesn’t provide evidence of invalid patenting by biotech companies. The author brings up the blurry distinction between a discovery and an invention, but it doesn’t identify or claim that biotech has invalidly patented anything.)

Because of the ██████ ██ ███████ ██████████ █████████ ██████ ███████████ ██ ██████ ████████ ███ ███████████ ███████ ███████████ ███ ██████████ ██ ██ ██████████

Passage A doesn’t discuss the distinction between discoveries and inventions.

12%

In the past, ██████████ ███████ ██ ████████ ███ ████ ██████ ██ ███ ███████ ██ █████ ████████ █████████ ██ █████████████

Supported by Passage A and Passage B.

76%

Government-funded research in ████████████ ███ █████████████ ████ █████████ ██ ███ █████ ██ ███████ █████████

Not supported by Passage A, because when research was considered a public good, the research wasn’t motivated by profit. (Not supported by Passage B, either, because it suggests government-funded research has been motivated by goals different from private industry.)

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 Free practice test All free LSAT resources

PrepTest 124 - Section 4 - Passage 3 - Question 19

Answer five questions and we'll estimate your score.

Difficulty

Analysis

Answer Popularity

Question history

Confirm action