December 2010 LSAT Section 1 Question 12

In using the phrase "vagrant fancies of an undisciplined mind" (lines 27—28), the author suggests that humanists are ...

Avi on June 24, 2020

B over A

I don't get why B is better than A. If you were to say that the author wouldn't repeat and that emotions were already mentioned you can say the same thing about answer choice B. Please explain. Thanks.

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Shunhe on June 24, 2020

Hi @avif,

Thanks for the question! So we’re being asked here to consider lines 27-28 about the vagrant fancies of an undisciplined mind. What is that saying about humanists? Make sure you don’t just read these lines; look at the lines around lines 27-28.

(A) says that it means that they’re wildly emotional. Well, first of all, the word “wildly” here should tip you off as to the fact that this answer choice deserves some extra scrutiny, since it’s some very extreme language and not supported at all in the passage. But also, are humanists wildly emotional? No, we’re only told that they’re interested in emotion (line 26), not that they themselves are emotional. This is why it’s important to read the surrounding lines carefully.

(B), too, has pretty extreme language. But (B) at least is somewhat supported, and clearly better than (C), (D), and (E) (and now (A)). We’re told later that humanists are sometimes seen as impractical in the following lines, lines 29-31, again why reading the surrounding lines are going to be important.

Hope this helps! Feel free to ask any other questions that you might have.

Avi on June 26, 2020

I guess. It seems pretty debatable. I don't like these types of questions when it is vague like this. Thanks for the explanation.

Shunhe on June 27, 2020

Yeah, unfortunately, these will come up from time to time. Just always keep your eyes on the best answer!