Logical ReasoningDifficulty: Medium

PT105 S2 Q7 Explanation

The crux of creativity resides

A free, expert breakdown of this official LSAT Logical Reasoning question.

TopicsMust be True

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Stimulus

The crux of creativity resides in the ability to manufacture variation on a theme. If we look at the history of science, for instance, we see that every idea is built upon a thousand related ideas. Careful analysis leads us to understand that what we choose to call a new theme or some sort of variation, on a deep level, of previous themes.

What this question is testing

Must be True

Your task

Break the argument into its conclusion and evidence, then do exactly what the question stem asks with that structure.

Common trap

Answers that sound relevant to the topic but don't connect to the argument's actual reasoning.

Winning move

Predict what a right answer must do, then test each choice against the conclusion-evidence gap.

Reading along? Open the full official question in LawHub — we show a fragment here and keep the reasoning in our own words.

The question
7.

If all of the statements in the passage are true, each of the following must also

Answer choices

  1. Trap5% picked this

    A lack of ability to manufacture a variation on a previous theme connotes a

  2. Trap4% picked this

    No scientific idea is entirely independent of all

  3. Must Be True2% picked this

    Careful analysis of a specific variation can reveal previous themes of which it

    In the video, I was nervous about saying we know that careful analysis can always reveal the previous themes that a variation was built upon. But it's possible to interpret this answer to simply mean, "Careful analysis can (at least once) reveal previous themes". With that interpretation, we can definitely derive this from the stimulus. The final sentence is saying that "careful analysis" has allowed us to understand that new ideas/discoveries are just variation on a theme. So this answer is just restating that causal connection: Careful analysis >> can lead to >> seeing that something is a variation on a previous theme.

  4. Trap7% picked this

    All great scientific discoverers have been able to manufacture a variation

  5. Correct81% picked this

    Some new scientific discoveries do not represent, on a deep level, a variation

    Why this is right

    Answer E is correct.

    Skill tested: Must be True · how this choice captures the argument's function is the move to repeat next time.

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