PrepTest 114

[lcid:3554] Prep Test 114 LSAT — Reading Comp — S3 Reading comp

Passage

Questions 9-14  .        Intellectual authority is defined as the authority of  . arguments that prevail by virtue of good Remaining source text redacted.
Passage walkthrough
Passage Summary

Topic: Legal


Paragraph 1

  • Paragraph note
    • Background on intellectual (good arguments) and institutional authority (institutional enforcement); view that law relies on intellectual authority
  • Views, minor Meta-Structures, and the author's attitude
    • Comparison between intellectual and institutional authority, according to the author:
      • Intellectual: relies on good reasoning, not pressure or norms (first sentence)
      • Institutional: relies on the power of social institutions to enforce arguments (second sentence)
    • One judge's opinion:
      • The legal system relies on intellectual authority — in fact, courts are just "passive vehicles" for intellectual authority (last sentence)
    • Author's opinion: "especially interesting" (third sentence); "goes so far" (last sentence)

Paragraph 2

  • Paragraph note
    • View that law relies on institutional authority (and intellectual authority doesn't exist) and rebuttal (some institutional arguments don't last, some good arguments don't become institutional)
  • Views, minor Meta-Structures, and the author's attitude
    • Some critics' view:
      • All intellectual authority doesn't really exist, as good arguments are really just the ones that institutions support (second sentence)
    • Author's rebuttal:
      • Some arguments supported by institutions don't stand the test of time, while some good arguments aren't accepted by institutions because they challenge institutional belief (third and last sentences)
    • Author's opinion: "can be countered that these claims break down" (third sentence); "Not all arguments ... stand the test of time" (third sentence); "some well-reasoned arguments never receive institutional imprimatur" (third sentence); "is common" (last sentence); "not the same thing" (last sentence)

Paragraph 3

  • Paragraph note
    • Institutional authority view's rebuttal (intellectual authority is based on institutional standards; musical genius example)
  • Views, minor Meta-Structures, and the author's attitude
    • Some critics' view:
      • What we think is intellectual authority is actually determined by institutional standards established through consensus (first sentence)
    • Example of institutional standards established through consensus, according to critics:
      • A supposed musical genius who hasn't been recognized over several decades shouldn't be automatically considered not a genius, as "several decades" is an arbitrary unit of time established by musicologists (second through last sentences)

Paragraph 4

  • Paragraph note
    • Author's resolution (mostly institutional authority but use intellectual authority when revising precedent)
  • Views, minor Meta-Structures, and the author's attitude
    • Author's view:
      • Legal systems primarily rely on institutional authority, but the ability to change past decisions when they realize that past cases were based on bad reasoning or outdated social mores allows it to exercise some intellectual authority (second and last sentences)
    • Definition of "precedent": judges decide a case a certain way because that's the way past cases have been decided (first sentence)
    • Author's attitude: "miss the crucial distinction" (second sentence), "thus played out ... leading one to draw the conclusion" (last sentence)

Main Point: Legal systems primarily rely on institutional authority, but the ability to change past decisions allows them to use intellectual authority as well.

Meta-Structure?

Resolving a Debate Meta-Structure: This follows a Resolving a Debate Meta-Structure.* The debate is set up in the first paragraph: Do legal institutions rely on intellectual authority (where arguments are accepted because they're well-reasoned and virtuous) or institutional authority (where arguments are accepted because some institution tells us to accept them)? The first, second, and third paragraphs describe a back-and-forth between those who think intellectual authority defines the legal system and those who believe the legal system rests purely on institutional authority. The author finally resolves this debate in the fourth paragraph. The author claims that, while the legal system rests primarily on institutional authority, its ability to revise precedent when judges realize past cases were based on bad reasoning or outdated social mores allows it to exercise some intellectual authority.

In passages that employ a Resolving a Debate Meta-Structure, the main point is generally the author's mediation or reconciliation of the debate. Often, the author will summarize their mediation or reconciliation in a sentence or two. This author helpfully provides such a summary in the last sentence, so we can use that to answer the inevitable Main Point question.

*We could reasonably refer to this as a Question/Answer passage, as this passage is organized around an implicit question (Do legal systems rely on intellectual or institutional authority?). We could even refer to this as a Correcting the Record or Criticizing a Viewpoint passage since the author focuses on amending the view that the legal system only rests on institutional authority. Any of these Meta-Structures will help you describe the passage's main point and organization.

Last Thoughts?

Question prompt

Which one of the Remaining source text redacted.
Why the credited answer is right

Credited answer: D

The notes below walk through why it fits the stem and how to eliminate the rest.

Question Type

Legal

Strategy Overview

Reiterate the main point as we summarized it after reading through the passage, then find the answer that best matches it

Answer Anticipation

As discussed in the Meta-Structure section above, this passage utilizes a Resolving a Debate Meta-Structure. The first paragraph sets the debate: Do legal institutions rely on intellectual authority (where arguments are accepted because they're well-reasoned and virtuous) or institutional authority (where arguments are accepted because some institution tells us to accept them)? The first, second, and third paragraphs describe a back-and-forth between those who think intellectual authority defines the legal system and those who believe the legal system rests purely on institutional authority. The author finally resolves this debate in the fourth paragraph. The author claims that, while the legal system rests primarily on institutional authority, its ability to revise precedent when judges realize past cases were based on bad reasoning or outdated social mores allows it to exercise some intellectual authority.In a Resolving a Debate passage, the main point will be the author's opinion on the debate or the author's mediation/reconciliation of the debate. So we are looking for something like "Legal systems primarily rely on institutional authority, but the ability to change past decisions allows them to use intellectual authority as well."Let's look for those ideas in the answer choices.

Answer choices

  1. A
    Although some argue that Remaining source text redacted.
    Why choice A is not credited

    (A) Does this sound like our anticipated main point ("Legal systems primarily rely on institutional authority, but the ability to change past decisions allows them to use intellectual authority as well")?

    Nope. This is backward. We anticipated that the main point is that the legal system is primarily institutional with a dash of intellectual, not the other way around. That's enough to cross off (A).

    Moreover, this passage doesn't talk about the court's ability to "enforce acceptance of badly reasoned or socially inappropriate judicial decisions." It does, however, discuss the court's ability to overturn decisions that are "badly reasoned" or socially outdated (P4, S2), though overturning those bad decisions is mentioned in service of the passage's main point about courts having intellectual, not institutional authority.

  2. B
    Although some argue that Remaining source text redacted.
    Why choice B is not credited

    (B) Does this sound like our anticipated main point ("Legal systems primarily rely on institutional authority, but the ability to change past decisions allows them to use intellectual authority as well")?

    Not quite. We anticipated that the main point is that the legal system mainly relies on institutional authority but operates with a bit of intellectual authority, too. This answer choice argues that courts are "vehicles for applying intellectual authority," which makes it seem like the author argues that courts purely or predominantly use intellectual authority. So, this answer choice is too strong and can be eliminated.

  3. C
    Although some argue that Remaining source text redacted.
    Why choice C is not credited

    (C) Does this sound like our anticipated main point ("Legal systems do employ institutional authority, but the ability to change past decisions allows them to use intellectual authority as well")?

    No, it doesn't. Like (A), this answer choice approaches the topic from the wrong angle. We anticipated that the main point is that the legal system primarily use institutional authority but can exert a little intellectual, too. This answer choice suggests that courts are primarily intellectual but can sometimes exert institutional authority. That's enough to eliminate (C).

    Furthermore, our author disagrees that "intellectual authority reduces to institutional authority." That is an argument that the author explicitly rejects in the second paragraph (P1, S3). (C) is out.

  4. D
    Although some argue that Remaining source text redacted.
    Why choice D matches the stem

    (D) Does this sound like our anticipated main point ("Legal systems do employ institutional authority, but the ability to change past decisions allows them to use intellectual authority as well")?

    Yes! This answer choice aligns perfectly with what we were expecting. It has all of the important elements: (1) courts mostly use institutional authority, (2) they also have some intellectual authority, and (3) this is because of their ability to review past decisions. We can confidently pick (D) and advance to the following question.

  5. E
    Although some argue that Remaining source text redacted.
    Why choice E is not credited

    (E) Does this sound like our anticipated main point ("Legal systems do employ institutional authority, but the ability to change past decisions allows them to use intellectual authority as well")?

    No, it doesn't. The author doesn't argue that courts have "exclusively institutional authority," and our anticipation does not mention the courts' ability to "enforce acceptance of badly reasoned or socially inappropriate judicial decisions." (E) is wrong on both counts.

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