PrepTest 102

[lcid:3506] Prep Test 102 LSAT — Logical Reasoning — S3 Logical reasoning

Question prompt

Medieval Arabs had manuscripts Remaining source text redacted.
Why the credited answer is right

Credited answer: A

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

Argument or Facts

Argument

Valid or Flawed

Flawed

Question Type

Strengthen Questions

Stimulus Summary

Medieval Arab translators translated available Greek texts when there was demand Arab poets interested in Aristotle → Wanted to read Homer Homer wasn’t translated into Arabic in medieval times Therefore - Arab poets weren’t interested in Aristotle

Answer Anticipation

Our default when approaching a Strengthen question is to look for a Correlation/Causation flaw, as it’s the most common flaw in the question type. Here, however, we don’t have a causal conclusion, so we need to look elsewhere for the flaw. So let’s dig into the conclusion and see what part of it isn’t supported, then find an answer that supports it! Here, the conclusion is that Medieval Arab poets weren’t interested in Aristotle. Why is that believed? Because if they were, then they would have wanted to read Homer, but Homer wasn’t translated into Arabic until modern times. We also know that Medieval Arabs had access to many Greek texts, and they were translated as demand for them was present. So, in other words, available texts by Homer would have been translated if there was demand for them. Since there were no translations of Homeric texts until modern times, then there must not have been demand for them. However, there’s a key term in there - “available.” The stimulus notes that “many” ancient Greek texts were available, but not all of them. It’s possible that there was demand for Homer’s works, but none were available to be translated. If they were available, though, then their lack of translation means that there wasn’t an interest in reading them, and thus the poets who would have been interested if they were interested in Aristotle must then not have had that interest. So let’s find an answer establishing the availability of Homeric texts in the Medieval Arab world.

Answer choices

  1. A
    A number of medieval Remaining source text redacted.
    Why choice A matches the stem
    This answer matches our anticipation. If Homer’s works were available but untranslated, then there wasn’t a demand for them. And since there would have been demand for them if poets were interested in Aristotle’s Poetics, they must not have been interested in that work - as the conclusion states. This strengthens the argument, so it’s the correct answer.
  2. B
    Medieval Arabic story cycles, Remaining source text redacted.
    Why choice B is not credited
    Any similarity between these works and the Homeric epics is out of scope, as there’s no indication that such similarities are relevant to the interest showed by the poets in those works.
  3. C
    In addition to translating Remaining source text redacted.
    Why choice C is not credited
    The argument is about Greek works translated into Arabic, so works in other languages are out of scope.
  4. D
    Aristotle' s Poetics has Remaining source text redacted.
    Why choice D is not credited
    The argument is about Medieval poets, not modern ones, so this answer is out of scope.
  5. E
    Aristotle's Poetics is largely Remaining source text redacted.
    Why choice E is not credited
    There’s no indication that writers of dramatic works should be interested in Poetics, or that the writers of these dramatic works were, so this answer is out of scope.

What this tests

Discussion

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