Q5

[natasha119]

Can someone please explain why the author's attitude is emphatic disagreement and not mild disapproval? I'm having trouble locating the relevant text. It is clear the author is disagreeing with the view of the strict constructionists, but I'm just not sure why it is emphatic, as opposed to mildly disapproving.

[maryadkins]

I see your point. This is a tricky one to navigate, but between (A) and (B) (which, of course, are the only two viable options given the author's CLEAR disagreement with strict constructionist Darwinians), I would say (A) is more supported for the reason that the author spends the entire passage debunking their view. It isn't something he waffles on at all or devotes only a portion of the passage to discussing. The whole POINT of the passage is to debunk them. That's pretty emphatic.

[andrewgong01]

In general for the LSAT to support "mild disapproval" (Choice B) would it have to partly acknowledge the opposing view is partly correct? I found it hard to differentiate between A and B because A sounded a bit too extreme for my liking but B sounded too soft but ultimately I went with A since the author does not like the extreme view and since the opposing argument is very extreme finding a few holes in the opposing view is in itself enough to say the view is wrong since it is so extreme

[ohthatpatrick]

I'm not sure you'd have to find explicit concessions about what the author likes. It would suffice for the author to be tentative in disagreement or admitting that he's only nitpicking at the edges of something (which, I guess, does imply that he largely agrees with the whole).

There have been a handful of correct answers that sound extreme, but they are still "polite rejection".

- reasoned dismissal
- complete disagreement

What you really would be cautious of are answers that sound too emotional:
- scorn
- anger
- disgust

If you find your author attitude line references and don't see her hedging her wording, then it's supportable to say she totally disagrees.

It looks like in 19-22 and 52-57, the author is pretty completely rejecting the strict D's view.

And I think you totally nailed it in saying that since the strict D's have such an extreme view, it only takes pointing out a small counterexample to confidently say, "I disagree with that claim".

[ltownsjr]

I know this question has been up for a while, but for anyone who is interested, I wanted to add my two cents as well. I think questions that deal with the authors feelings can be the hardest type of question at times. You really have to pay attention to how the author addresses another point of view. Any little thing could be an indication! . If you look at line 5, the author specifically refers to D's group as a bunch of "self proclaimed strict constructionist" I don't know about you, but if I have respect for your group and/or what you believe, I probably won't refer to you in that regard. Along with what's already been said, I think that's why (A) was better than (B). I think line 5 gives you the most direct window into how the author feels if you wanted to sum it up in just a few words.