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Re: Q19 - A carved flint object depicting a stylized human head

by mshinners Fri Dec 31, 1999 8:00 pm

Question Type:
Weaken

Stimulus Breakdown:
A carved object was found in a Stone Age, Irish tomb. It's too small to be a weapon. The image on it represents speaking. Thus, it's probably a speaking staff (communal object; let's you talk at a meeting).

Answer Anticipation:
The author fairly conclusively rules out weapon, so the correct answer probably won't suggest it's a weapon instead of this speaking staff. The correct answer, then, should suggest a reason to doubt that the object is a speaking staff, either by suggesting something else it might be, or giving a reason that a speaking staff wouldn't end up in a tomb.

Correct answer:
(B)

Answer choice analysis:
(A) Out of scope/if anything, opposite. Other objects don't impact the purpose of this object. I only have one power tool in my apartment; the lack of other power tools in my apartment doesn't change the likelihood that the power tool exists. If anything, this answer creates a pattern against weapon (unless you argue that every good tomb needs a good weapon).

(B) Boom. This answer choice gives us a reason to suspect that the speaking staff wouldn't end up in a tomb. Since the speaking staff is a communal object, it would be passed to the next generation, not entombed. While this answer doesn't rule out this object being a speaking staff, the "normally" carries enough weight to make us question the conclusion, which is all we need for a Weaken answer choice to do.

(C) Out of scope. This answer suggests the object would be rare, but that doesn't connect to being buried. If you argue that a rare object was probably valuable and thus wouldn't be buried, you're making several assumptions in there that you can't make for a Weaken question. (Assumptions: Rare = Valuable; Valuable = Not Buried. The former isn't too much of a jump, but the second is - just ask the Egyptians!)

(D) If anything, opposite. There are some minor scope issues here. That said, even if we say that the profession of the individual is 100% relevant and connects to the premises (which there's evidence for - "assembly"), this answer would, if anything, provide evidence that this object is a speaking staff.

(E) Out of scope. This answer tries to connect the two premises, but that's not relevant to the conclusion. Each premise speaks to a different role, so connecting them neither helps nor hurts the conclusion.

Takeaway/Pattern:
When an argument rules out one possibility in the premises, there's a good chance that only trap answers will speak to that possibility. When a conclusion picks a possibility, the answer will either provide evidence for an alternative possibility, or provide evidence against the conclusion's possibility (this latter option is what we see here).

#officialexplanation
 
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Q19 - A carved flint object depicting a stylized human head

by aliciaq Wed Nov 19, 2014 10:55 am

Hi, I was wondering if an LSAT Geek could explain how to arrive at the answer B?
 
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Re: Q19 - A carved flint object depicting a stylized human head

by iryankees13 Thu Nov 20, 2014 1:45 pm

aliciaq Wrote:Hi, I was wondering if an LSAT Geek could explain how to arrive at the answer B?



Well I'm not geek or expert but I can give it a shot for ya.

So this is a weaken question with the argument being that an object was found depicting a stylized human head with an open mouth. Some archaeologists believe it to be a weapon but it’s too small to serve that purpose. The author concludes because of its size and the open mouth that it was the head of a speaking staff.
Tough to prephrase anything for this one so let’s just to the answer choices.

A.) Ok so this if anything may strengthen or most likely be irrelevant. If no other weapons were found with it who cares? Now if this said that this object was found with a warrior who had many weapons on him it would be tempting but it says the exact opposite.
B.) Bingo. Well not quite bingo but it works. Ok now if communal objects were passed from one generation to the next we would say… why would it be buried? If it was passed on couldn’t there be a possibility that it is still in use as a speaking stick. So this is not fool proof support but it does weaken the fact that it would be buried.
C.) So what, who cares about the carving on it, irrelevant.
D.) Ooooook, again no real effect on the argument. It was buried with a politician, which certainly doesn’t weaken our argument
E.) This could be kind of tempting but upon review I think it can be soundly eliminated because it strengthens the argument. Ok so if the speaking staff with a stone head is thought to symbolize a warrior’s mace, then wouldn’t this example in the stimulus be a prime example of a communal staff? So the staff symbolizes a weapon, and what was found was too small to be a weapon thus it is most likely a symbol of a weapon which is used as a speaking staff which is exactly what the stimulus says.
Hope that helps
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Re: Q19 - A carved flint object depicting a stylized human head

by maryadkins Sat Nov 22, 2014 6:33 pm

Excellent breakdown, thank you!
 
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Re: Q19 - A carved flint object depicting a stylized human head

by donghai819 Sat Jan 23, 2016 10:04 pm

This is very tricky.. Anyways, I guess the author gives us a clue by explaining what a "speaking staff" is: a communal object passed around a small assembly to indicate who has the right to speak.
 
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Re: Q19 - A carved flint object depicting a stylized human head

by contropositive Sat Jan 30, 2016 10:25 pm

I understand that B weakens by suggesting that if the object was a communal object then it would not end up in a tomb.

However, even if the object was passed from one generation to another then couldn't it be possible that it still ended in a tomb once the Stone Age era ended?
I would like the answer more if it didn't have "...in Stone Age Era" without that it would be stronger to argue it couldn't be in a tomb
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Re: Q19 - A carved flint object depicting a stylized human head

by ohthatpatrick Sun Feb 07, 2016 4:55 pm

I see your gripe.

1st, remember that correct answers to Strengthen/Weaken don't have to be perfect, and will sometimes be staggeringly weak in their effect (but still produce SOME effect).

I think their idea was this --
It's a STONE AGE tomb. That suggests we know that a body was buried in there DURING the Stone Age.

Putting that modifier indicates the date of origin of the tomb. So if someone put that object into the tomb, it was during the stone age (unless we're telling ourselves some exotic story about someone, after the Stone Age, who broke into the grave and planted an object there).

So by indicating the date of the tomb, LSAT feels like (B) makes us doubtful that someone in that era would put a communal object into the tomb.
 
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Re: Q19 - A carved flint object depicting a stylized human head

by MollyO658 Sun Apr 21, 2019 1:06 pm

I eliminated B because I thought the object could still be passed from one generation to the next and somehow end up buried in the tomb (e.g., on accident, someone who it was passed down to decided to entomb it, etc.)? The answer choice also just says "normally", so I thought that left open some possibility that it could end up not being passed down to another generation. So I didn't think B would necessarily weaken. I ended up picking C, because it suggests that maybe the object wasn't even from Stone Age Ireland, which would weaken the conclusion that it was a Stone Age Ireland speaking staff. Do we have to assume that because it was buried in a Stone Age Ireland tomb, it was for sure from Stone Age Ireland? I didn't feel like the stimulus explicitly laid this out, so I'm still confused why C wouldn't weaken.
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Re: Q19 - A carved flint object depicting a stylized human head

by ohthatpatrick Sun Apr 21, 2019 9:18 pm

Trust me, no matter what I say you'll never feel good about this question because it's a super stinker.

You're right, "normally" definitely leaves plenty of room for exceptions. But the correct answer to Str/Weak doesn't have to be bulletproof. It just has to add or detract plausibility.

If we say,
Molly is really good at skateboarding. Thus, she can probably jump over Suicide Gulch.

would it weaken that argument to say
(A) really good skateboarders normally can't jump over Suicide Gulch ?

Of course it would. Does it prove you wouldn't make it over? No. But it detracts some plausibility.

(C) does seem like it detracts some plausibility, but you added an idea when you made your case for it:
I ended up picking C, because it suggests that maybe the object wasn't even from Stone Age Ireland, which would weaken the conclusion that it was a Stone Age Ireland speaking staff.

The author didn't say it was a Stone Age Ireland speaking staff. The conclusion just says "the object was probably the head of a speaking staff".

So if the artistry of the carving suggests that it probably didn't come from Ireland, that doesn't really do anything to debunk the idea that it was the head of a speaking staff. Maybe it was carved in England or France. What does that have to do with whether it's the head of a speaking staff?

I don't think we have to assume that because it was found in a Stone Age Ireland tomb that it definitely came from Ireland. We're conservatively assuming that because it was found in a Stone Age Ireland tomb that it was used in Stone Age Ireland and buried during that era.
 
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Re: Q19 - A carved flint object depicting a stylized human head

by MeenaV936 Tue Aug 13, 2019 9:03 pm

Is my reasoning as to why E is wrong correct?

"I narrowed it down to B and E, and chose E, which I now realize is wrong because E still could mean that the speaking staff could be a communal object EVEN if it could be a warrior's mace (esp. since it is too small to be used as a weapon). As an analogy, the color red could indicate both that something is an apple or that it is a tomato. So just because red indicates apples doesn't mean it can't also indicate tomatoes. So just because this speaking staff could be a warrior's mace doesn't mean it automatically can't be a communal object. B is correct because it weakens the idea that it is a communal object -- if it's a communal object, it would've been passed onto the next generation, not buried with the person in the tomb."
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Re: Q19 - A carved flint object depicting a stylized human head

by ohthatpatrick Wed Aug 14, 2019 2:32 pm

Yeah, your reasoning seems super close. The only point I hear you drifting is when you're saying, "even if it's a warrior's mace, it could still also be a communal staff".

But you're also (correctly) saying "It's NOT a mace. They told us that it's too small to be a weapon."

I think you were just missing the idea that you can symbolize something without being that thing.

Your analogy might work better if you were saying "what was this object? It was red and shaped like an apple, but it was too small to be an apple. Maybe it was an eraser."

And then the corresponding answer would be saying
(E) small red erasers are thought to symbolize apples

We don't know if it's an eraser. We know it's NOT an apple.
Being told that "If this thing is an eraser, it's an eraser that's supposed to remind us of apples" isn't really helping us solve the causal mystery (and if anything, it would seem to strengthen the idea that we ARE looking at an eraser).

Hope this helps.