Logical ReasoningDifficulty: Hard

PT134 S2 Q21 Explanation

The Iliad and the Odyssey

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

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Stimulus

The Iliad and the Odyssey were both attributed to Homer in ancient times. But these two poems differ greatly in tone and vocabulary and in certain details of the fictional world they depict. the work of the same poet.

What this question is testing

Weaken

Your task

Find the choice that makes the argument's conclusion less likely to be true.

Common trap

Answers that look negative but attack a claim the argument never relied on.

Winning move

Find the assumption the argument depends on, then pick the choice that undermines it.

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

The question
21.

Which one of the following statements, if true, most weakens the

Answer choices

  1. Too Weak12% picked this

    Several hymns that were also attributed to Homer in ancient times differ more from the Iliad in the respects

    Unless it were known that Homer wrote the Iliad, this would not support the view that Homer could have written both.

  2. Too Weak12% picked this

    Both the Iliad and the Odyssey have come down to us in manuscripts that have suffered from minor copying

    Minor copying errors and other textual corruptions are too weak to explain the great difference in tone and vocabulary.

  3. Correct61% picked this

    Works known to have been written by the same modern writer are as different from each other in the respects mentioned as

    Why this is right

    This attacks the assumption DTV + ~SP by finding a relevant counterexample.

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

  4. Too Weak8% picked this

    Neither the Iliad nor the Odyssey taken by itself is completely consistent in all of

    Having minor discrepancies in the respects mentioned within a work that is produced by a single author is not strong enough to provide a counterexample to the assumption that great differences in tone and vocabulary imply that two works are not by the same author.

  5. Strengthen7% picked this

    Both the Iliad and the Odyssey were the result of an extended process of oral composition in which

    This strengthens the conclusion that the works were not the result of a single author.

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