Oscar: I have been accused of plagiarizing the work of Ethel Myers in my recent article. But that accusation is unwar...
tomgbeanOctober 26, 2019
Answer choice A
So I read the explanation for why D is correct and i don't disagree with the explanation of D, i do however have a hard time understanding how it is different from A. We are told that authors of the LSAT frequently test the contrapositive as a method of weeding. As it stands, the contrapositive of A says the exact same thing as D. The explanation that A is wrong states that for A to work we would have to make the necessary condition of (grated writer permission) the sufficient condition, however the contrapositive does make "granted writer permission) the sufficient thereby leading to the conclusion that he had the right to quote. Seems like there were two right answers.
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I think you would be correct about the contrapositive, but you are missing a key word that changes the meaning. Oscar is arguing for his usage of quotations "without attribution," meaning he did not cite his source. We are not talking about quotations in general, which presumably do not count as plagiarism as long as they are properly attributed.
A does not justify Oscar's argument, because it does not necessarily allow for unattributed quotations.
SamAOctober 26, 2019
We should discuss your use of contrapositives as well. We don't necessarily want to test how the answer choices relate to one another. I think this is what caused some confusion here. Rather, we want to know how each answer choice relates to the passage. Let's try the contrapositive of A.
If you do no not have permission (not P), then you do not have the right to quote (not RQ). not P - - - - - > not RQ
Contrapositive: RQ - - - - - -> P
Permission is the necessary condition. Fulfilling the necessary condition does not guarantee the sufficient condition. It could be just one of multiple requirements. A leaves room for the possibility that proper attribution is another necessary condition, which defeats Oscar's argument.
