PT145.S3.P3.Q18 > Analytics

Hide analysis

Passage A.

Intro topic · Function of language

One purpose is to influence others' behavior.

Contrast · Animal vocalizations vs. human language

Animal communication is inadvertent, unlike human language. Animals (except chimps) can't attribute mental states to other animals.

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

Example · Communication by one frog

No evidence that the frog attributes knowledge or desire to other frogs.

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

Additional contrast · Animal vocalizations vs. human language

Primates (besides humans) don't communicate in response to thinking that another primate needs info.

Example · Macaques and chimps

No evidence they are more likely to communicate about things when their fellow primates are clearly unaware of those things.

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

Main point · Many animal vocalizations aren't as intentional as they seem

███████ █

Scientists' perspective · Animal communication isn't intentional, whereas human language is

This is a recap of Passage A's perspective.

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

Scientists' perspective · Animals can't lie

Lying requires intention to deceive, and it's widely thought that animals don't have conscious intention.

Example · Bee's "waggle-dance"

Bees communicate direction of food sources, but one philosopher thinks this is just a reflex; bees don't intend to communicate anything.

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

Author's critique · Assumption that animals can't intend things might be wrong

Passage Style

18.

The authors would be most ██████ ██ ████████ ████

Question Type

Author’s perspective

Implied

We’re looking for a point of disagreement. Author A thinks animal communication doesn’t involve conscious intention. Author B thinks that animal communication might involve conscious intention, and that we shouldn’t rule out this possibility.

the extent to █████ █████████████ █████ ██████ ████████ ███ ███████ ██ ████████ ███ ██████ ██████ ██ ██████

This isn’t a point of disagreement, because both passages acknowledge that human communication can involve perception of mental states of others.

the importance of ███████████ ██ ████ ██████ ██████ █████████████ ███████ ██████ ████ █████ ████████

Not a point of disagreement, because we don’t get any evidence that one author views the issue as less “important” than the other author.

whether human language ███ ██████ █████████████ ██████ ████ ███ ███████ █████████████ ██ ██████ ██ █ ██████ ██ ██████

Supported as a point of disagreement. Author A believes human and animal communication differ qualitatively in that humans communicate with intention and purpose, while animals (except chimpanzees) don’t. But Author B believes animals might communicate with intention and purpose, just like humans. Perhaps this doesn’t happen as often as it does with humans, but to Author B that would just be a matter of degree.

70%

whether chimpanzees' vocalizations ███████ ████ ████ ███ ███████ ███ ████████ ██ █████████ ██████ ██████ ██ ██████

Not supported as a point of disagreement, because Author A doesn’t deny the possibility that chimpanzees might be able to attribute mental states to others. So Author A might agree with Author B regarding the possibility of attributing mental states to others, at least when it comes to chimpanzees.

14%

whether animals' vocalizations ███████ ██ █████ ███ ████████ ██ █████ ███████ ██ █ ███ ████ ████████ ███ ████████

Not supported as a point of disagreement, because Author B doesn’t comment on the evolution of animal vocalizations.

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 145 - Section 3 - Passage 3 - Question 18

Answer five questions and we'll estimate your score.

Difficulty

Analysis

Answer Popularity

Question history

Confirm action

PrepTest 145 - 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?