abhasjha Posted April 24, 2009 Share Posted April 24, 2009 Direct observation of contemporary societies at the threshold of widespread literacy has not assisted our understanding of how such literacy altered ancient Greek society, in particular its political culture. The discovery of what Goody has called the “enabling effects” of literacy in contemporary societies tends to seduce the observer into confusing often rudimentary knowledge of how to read with popular access to important books and documents: this confusion is then projected onto ancient societies. “In ancient Greece,” Goody writes, “alphabetic reading and writing was important for the development of political democracy.” An examination of the ancient Greek city Athens exemplifies how this sort of confusion is detrimental to understanding ancient politics. In Athens, the early development of a written law code was retrospectively mythologized as the critical factor in breaking the power monopoly of the old aristocracy: hence the Greek tradition of the “law-giver,” which has captured the imaginations of scholars like Goody. But the application and efficacy of all law codes depend on their interpretation by magistrates and courts, and unless the right of interpretation is “democratized,” the mere existence of written laws changes little. In fact, never in antiquity did any but the elite consult documents and books. Even in Greek courts the juries heard only the relevant statutes read outduring the proceedings, as they heard verbal testimony, and they then rendered their verdict on the spot, without the benefit of any discussion among themselves. True, in Athens the juries were representative of a broad spectrum of the population, and these juries, drawn from diverse social classes, both interpreted what they had heard and determined matters of fact. However, they guided solely by the speeches prepared for the parties by professional pleaders and by the quotations of laws or decrees within the speeches, rather than by their own access to any kind of document or book. Granted, people today also rely heavily on a truly knowledgeable minority for information and its interpretation, often transmitted orally. Yet this is still fundamentally different from an ancient society in which there was no “popular literature,” i.e., no newspapers, magazines, or other media that dealt with sociopolitical issues. An ancient law code would have been analogous to the Latin Bible, a venerated document but a closed book. The resistance of the medieval Church to vernacular translations of the Bible, in the West at least, is therefore a pointer to the realities of ancient literacy. When fundamental documents are accessible for study only to an elite, the rest of the society is subject to the elite’s interpretation of the rules of behavior, including right political behavior. Athens, insofar as it functioned as a democracy, did so not because of widespread literacy, but because the elite had chosen to accept democratic institutions. 14. Which one of the following statements best expresses the main idea of the passage? (A) Democratic political institutions grow organically from the traditions and conventions of a society. (B) Democratic political institutions are not necessarily the outcome of literacy in a society. © Religious authority, like political authority, can determine who in a given society will have access to important books and documents. (D) Those who are best educated are most often those who control the institutions of authority in a society. (E) Those in authority have a vested interest in ensuring that those under their control remain illiterate. 15. It can be inferred from the passage that the author assumes which one of the following about societies in which the people possess a rudimentary reading ability? (A) They are more politically advanced than societies without rudimentary reading ability. (B) They are unlikely to exhibit the positive effects of literacy. © They are rapidly evolving toward widespread literacy. (D) Many of their people might not have access to important documents and books. (E) Most of their people would not participate in political decision-making. 16. The author refers to the truly knowledgeable minority in contemporary societies in the context of the fourth paragraph in order to imply which one of the following? (A) Because they have a popular literature that closes the gap between the elite and the majority, contemporary societies rely far less on the knowledge of experts than did ancient societies. (B) Contemporary societies rely on the knowledge of experts, as did ancient societies, because contemporary popular literature so frequently conveys specious information. © Although contemporary societies rely heavily on the knowledge of experts, access to popular literature makes contemporary societies less dependent on experts for information about rules of behavior than were ancient societies. (D) While only some members of the elite can become experts, popular literature gives the majority in contemporary society an opportunity to become members of such an elite. (E) Access to popular literature distinguishes ancient from contemporary societies because it relies on a level of educational achievement attainable only be a contemporary elite. 17. According to the passage, each of the following statements concerning ancient Greek juries is true EXCEPT: (A) They were somewhat democratic insofar as they were composed largely of people from the lowest social classes. (B) They were exposed to the law only insofar as they heard relevant statutes read out during legal proceedings. © They ascertained the facts of a case and interpreted the laws. (D) They did not have direct access to important books and documents that were available to the elite. (E) They rendered verdicts without benefit of private discussion among themselves. 18. The author characterizes the Greek tradition of the “law-giver” (line 21) as an effect mythologizing most probably in order to (A) illustrate the ancient Greek tendency to memorialize historical events by transforming them into myths (B) convey the historical importance of the development of the early Athenian written law code © convey the high regard in which the Athenians held their legal tradition (D) suggest that the development of a written law code was not primarily responsible for diminishing the power of the Athenian aristocracy (E) suggest that the Greek tradition of the “law-giver” should be understood in the larger context of Greek mythology 19. The author draws an analogy between the Latin Bible and an early law code (lines 49-51) in order to make which one of the following points? (A) Documents were considered authoritative in premodern society in proportion to their inaccessibility to the majority. (B) Documents that were perceived as highly influential in premodern societies were not necessarily accessible to the society’s majority. © What is most revered in a nondemocratic society is what is most frequently misunderstood. (D) Political documents in premodern societies exerted a social influence similar to that exerted by religious documents. (E) Political documents in premodern societies were inaccessible to the majority of the population because of the language in which they were written. 20. The primary purpose of the passage is to (A) argue that a particular method of observing contemporary societies is inconsistent (B) point out the weaknesses in a particular approach to understanding ancient societies © present the disadvantages of a particular approach to understanding the relationship between ancient and contemporary societies (D) examine the importance of developing an appropriate method for understanding ancient societies (E) convey the difficulty of accurately understanding attitudes in ancient societies Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
12rk34 Posted April 24, 2009 Share Posted April 24, 2009 14. C , 15. D , 16. C , 17. A , 18. D, 19. B, 20. B Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sasen Posted April 24, 2009 Share Posted April 24, 2009 14 b 15 a 16 b 17 e 18 d 19 a 20 b OA please Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sasen Posted April 24, 2009 Share Posted April 24, 2009 I guess 17 is an EXCEPT questions and should be c Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
abhasjha Posted April 25, 2009 Author Share Posted April 25, 2009 Here goes the official explanation : Fortunately for those rusty classical scholars among us, the basic topic of the passage — the development of literacy in ancient Greek society — is spelled out right there in the first sentence. Like many LSAT reading passages, this one is structured as an argument against an established theory or point of view. The author’s big idea is that scholars who study the development of literacy today have misunderstood the development of literacy in ancient Greece and its effect on the political culture of the day. Note how examining merely the first sentence of Paragraph 2 lays out the argument structure, as it were, and tells you clearly where the author stands: Examining Athens “exemplifies” (that means “is evidence for”) how“this sort of confusion” (a reference to whatever confusion was just described) works against really understanding the politics of ancient times. Most reading passages are in fact extended arguments, and your Logical Reasoning skills can and should be brought to bear on them. In terms of the building blocks, Paragraph 1 describes the problem: Scholars, particularly some character named Goody, assume that widespread literacy democratized ancient Greek society by “enabling” (Goody’s word) everyone to access (i.e. read) important documents. But our author’s point of view on this becomes clear at the end of Paragraph 2 : Developments such as a written code of law didn’t necessarily bring political change, because the power of interpretation remained with the magistrates. Paragraphs 3 and 4 simply reinforce this idea of vested interest. Essentially, by controlling the books, the elite continued to maintain legal and political power in ancient Greece. The only other major point of interest is lines 43-49, in which the author may have startled you by suddenly alluding to modern life in the midst of the discussion of ancient Athens. But given lines 1-11, we shouldn’t have been surprised: The whole reason we misunderstand the effect of literacy on the ancient world is that we see how literacy affects our world and project that vision onto the past. 14. (B) Question 14 is a global question, so we're looking for the choice that captures both the content and point of view of the entire passage. The gist of the author’s argument is probably best summarized at the end of Paragraph 4, but really it's implicit throughout: Contrary to Goody’s claims, literacy did not bring about radical political change, because the elite retained control of the important documents. Choice (B) takes that idea and summarizes it in a more general and abstract way. True, (B) doesn’t mention Athens, but then none of the choices does, they’re all written in abstract language. And after all, by the author’s own admission Athens is just there to “exemplify” the general point. How democracy grows (A) is not the author’s topic; if anything, it’s how democracy does not grow (i.e., it doesn’t necessarily grow from literacy, which is (B)’s point). And © takes a brief Paragraph 4 reference to religion in another era, and blows it up into a “main idea.” Pshaw. The phrase “best educated” should have set off warning bells in choice (D) — the author focuses on the elite’s control of authoritative documents and books without suggesting that their educational background was an issue; and in any event, any choice which ignores the topic of the effect of literacy on democracy should have been rejected immediately. (E) does sort of allude to the topic, but distorts the situation further. The elite retained power by controlling the written word, not by keeping the population illiterate. 15. (D) As an inference question, this one is pretty broad, and in fact it’s more global than specific: It relates once again to the author’s overall point of view on the development of literacy. You should keep the “big idea” with you during all questions, so this one needn’t have been a trial. As we just finished saying, the gist of the author’s argument is that rudimentary reading ability did not shake up the aristocracy in ancient Greece, because the elite had exclusive access to the most important texts. Choice (D) is a central assumption here — that widespread literacy does not mean free access to information. If you need more convincing, note that lines 5-9 specifically state that the author sees confusion between those two things. Of the wrong choices, (A) contradicts the passage pretty directly. The author’s point is that literacy doesn’t necessarily bring about any political advances at all. Choice (B)’s too extreme — it’s never suggested that the Greeks showed no benefits from literacy. The phrase “rapidly evolving” underscores the problem with © — there’s no discussion here of the rate at which social literacy develops (this is probably a distortion of “at the threshold of widespread literacy,” lines 1-2). Choice (E), finally, suggests that such people abstain from political decisions. This one might be very tempting, because at the end of Paragraph 4 it’s clear that when only the elite possess the books, everybody else “is subject to the elite’s interpretation” of law. But that concept doesn’t mean that the people don’t vote, or attend town meetings, or respond to polls, any of which could reasonably qualify as “participat[ing] in political decision making.” 16. © Question 16 asks about the reference to the “truly knowledgeable minority” discussed in Paragraph 4. Remember, when dealing with a question about the role of a detail, it's important to understand the context in which that detail appears. So instead of focusing on the micro issue of the detail itself, start with the macro issue of: Where is the author at that point in his argument? Well, he has just gotten through explaining that ancient Greek juries had no access to books or documents — a major piece of evidence in his argument that myth mustn’t seduce us into thinking that because the ancients could read, they read political literature. “Granted,” line 43, is a signal that the author is about to tip his hat to a possible explanation or exception, as in “Your dog is filthy. Granted, those children just threw mud at him, but he’s still a mess.” After reading “Granted, people today” are such-and-such, we wait for the other shoe to drop, and here it drops at line 45: “Yet ...” — the point being that what’s true about our world isn’t necessarily true about the ancient one. And looking at the lines 43-51 as a whole, we see that both societies rely on the interpretations of powerful, knowledgeable elites; but ancient Greek society wasn’t able to get “sociopolitical” information from the kind of popular literature and media that we have access to today. © spells out the underlying point: Our access to media makes us less dependent on experts. Choices (A) exaggerates the power of the media. The author doesn’t suggest that it “closes the gap” between the majority and the elite; it only makes today’s majority a bit less reliant on the elite than in ancient Greece. (We still “rely heavily on” it, line 43.) The phrase “specious information” helps target (B) as a wrong answer — the author never criticizes today’s media. If anything, he’s glad it’s around. Because the author puts quotes around “popular literature” in line 47 you might have thought that he was being snotty, but that’s not so. Elite membership for the majority (D) may sound like a beautiful idea, but it’s outside the scope of the passage. (E) is a distortion, and a pretty implausible one—there’s no connection made here between popular literature and educational achievement. 17. (A) The topic of this question is ancient Greek juries, so it’s back to Paragraph 3 we go. For “all...EXCEPT questions,” two different strategies have proven useful: You can scan the choices before going back to the passage, to see if any choices jump out as untrue statements; or you can simply and casually re-read the portion of the passage in question, and then toss out the choices that you know are true. Practice both approaches to see which you’re more comfortable with. Anyhow, the overall point of Paragraph 3 is that Greek juries had very little real power because they had no direct access to the codes of law, and most of the “true statement” choices can be eliminated because they’re consistent with this. We’re told that because they were not permitted access to law books (D), they only heard statutes that were read out to them (B), they had to determine the facts and interpret what they heard ©, and deliver their verdicts without the benefit of group discussion (E). That leaves (A); but in terms of its logic, (A) may have jumped out at you as an obvious distortion. The author argues that juries were somewhat democratic because they represented a broad spectrum of the population, not just the lowest social classes. 18. (D) We can make quick work of this question, another that concerns a detail relating directly to the overall argument . Lines 16-22 suggest that the tradition of a “law-giver” stems from the (mistaken) idea that the development of a written law brought about a break in the aristocratic control of society. Here, as elsewhere, the author disagrees that literacy brought about real political change, using the word “mythologizing” to suggest that the development of a written law did not disrupt the status quo (D). Again, when directed by a question to a detail, don’t just focus on the detail. That detail is only placed there as part of a context, so think about the context! That’s largely what the LSAT is testing, anyhow — your ability to understand the overall context. Just as the correct answer is firmly in synch with the overall argument, two of the wrong choices fall several miles outside of the scope of the passage. Greek mythology as a topic is not discussed anywhere else in the passage, and so it’s highly unlikely that the author would make a point of it here; if you chose (A) or (E), or even were tempted by them, you were reading a bit lazily and taking the word “myth” far too literally. No offense. (B) should prompt a vigorous Au contraire! from you: The author mentions the law-giver in order to dispute its historical importance, overestimated by people like Goody. Finally, the quote at line 21 does suggest the Athenians’ respect for their legal tradition ©; however, until the other shoe drops with the structural signal “But,” line 22, the author hasn’t yet reached the point of the paragraph. 19. (B) Just as with the previous question, you must ask yourself: What’s going on at the given point of the passage? We’re directed to the part where the author compares an ancient law code to the Latin Bible — “a venerated document but a closed book.” The author’s point once again relates to the inaccessibility of important documents, the implication being that while ancient law codes were tremendously influential documents, very few people were permitted to read them, contrary to the misinterpretation of Goody and others like him. (B), in fact, wouldn’t be a bad answer to the question “Which of the following would the author agree with?,” let alone this one. Choice (A) could have been ruled out on logical grounds. Nowhere does the author suggest that the fewer people read an ancient document, the more important it was considered. © is out on tone and content: The author’s not making a critique of superstition in “nondemocratic” societies, they aren’t even part of his scope of interest. (D) is wrong because the influence of ancient laws is not the issue, it’s how accessible they were. And (E) stretches the analogy too far; it was the elite’s control of texts, and not a language barrier, that prevented the majority from reading ancient law codes. 20. (B) This global question, even more than Question 14, demands that we translate the author’s specific approach into abstract language. Because such language is a step or two removed from the explicit content, it poses a special challenge for many students. Pay special attention to passage structure and, when appropriate, tone, in trying to translate the abstract choices back into an approximation of the passage you’ve just read. Reviewing the passage from the top, it should be clear that the author outlines an established theory in Paragraphs 1 and 2, and then sets out to disprove it in Paragraphs 3 and 4. In other words, he is “point[ing] out the weaknesses” in Goody’s approach, which is choice (B). Choice (A), of course, is misfocused on the topic of contemporary societies, which only come up in the passage because people like Goody are misled by modern life when they try to analyze the ancient world — which is the real topic. Less so than (A), © still gives too great a weight to the modern world. Again, correcting misconceptions about ancient Greece is the focus of the passage as a whole; today’s world simply contributes to the source of those misconceptions. The need for a new method of approach (D) is never suggested; the author seems to consider his own assessment of the evidence satisfactory enough. And finally, both tone and content are wrong in choice (E): The passage conveys no sense of methodical difficulties here, and no concern about the attitudes of the ancient Greeks either. Guys just a request for all of you. try explaining your answer in a line or two when you post the solution . This will help others who choose wrong answer . Furthermore these questions are from LSAT portion of 3000 RC .... those who have 3000 RC already have the solution . Lets do some thing different . Let us try to post explanation too ! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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