Examkin

Question

Difficulty: HardIdentifying Analogous Situations

Historians of early modern European literature frequently observe a dynamic wherein state or religious authorities' attempts to suppress heterodox ideas inadvertently facilitated their spread. By placing a specific text on an official index of prohibited books, authorities inadvertently signaled to the clandestine book market that the text contained unusually potent or subversive ideas. Instead of erasing the work, this official condemnation acted as a powerful, albeit unintentional, marketing mechanism. It stimulated illicit printing runs and ensured a much wider circulation among the literate public than the obscure text would likely have achieved had the authorities simply ignored it.

Which one of the following scenarios is most analogous to the historical dynamic described in the excerpt?

  1. A
    A prominent religious leader publicly condemns a popular new philosophical treatise, which successfully prevents the author from securing a publisher for any subsequent manuscripts.
  2. B
    A municipal government offers a substantial financial reward for turning in an invasive agricultural pest, which inadvertently encourages farmers to breed the pest for profit, ultimately increasing the pest's overall population.
  3. A corporation files a highly publicized lawsuit to force a small blog to remove leaked schematics of an upcoming product, which immediately prompts dozens of larger tech websites to mirror the files for their own readers.Answer
  4. D
    A controversial author intentionally petitions the state to place their obscure novel on a banned book list, correctly predicting that the official condemnation will stimulate clandestine sales.
  5. E
    A national government completely censors all domestic media coverage of a growing political protest, leading international human rights organizations to universally condemn the government's restrictive actions.

Answer

The scenario where a corporation's highly publicized lawsuit to remove leaked schematics unintentionally causes dozens of other websites to mirror the files.
The correct answer accurately parallels the passage's structural logic: an authority figure genuinely attempts to suppress sensitive information (the corporation suing to remove schematics), but this action unintentionally signals the information's high value (the highly publicized lawsuit), causing independent third parties to proliferate the information much wider than before (larger websites mirroring the files).

Step-by-Step Solution

1
Abstract the core logical mechanism from the passage.
Entity A (authorities) attempts to suppress Resource X (text). This act of suppression inadvertently signals the hidden value of Resource X to Group B (clandestine market), causing Group B to spread Resource X much further than if Entity A had done nothing.
LSAT analogy questions require mapping the abstract causal structure rather than matching the surface-level topic.
2
Evaluate the options for a matching initial intent and action.
The correct option must feature an entity genuinely attempting to restrict or suppress something. The option with the controversial author intentionally seeking a ban fails here.
A mismatch in the primary actor's intent breaks the structural symmetry of the analogy.
3
Evaluate remaining options for the correct mechanism and outcome.
The correct option must feature suppression acting as a signal of value that causes proliferation. The corporation's lawsuit (suppression) signals importance, causing tech sites to mirror the files (proliferation).
Other options fail because the suppression succeeds, the mechanism is a financial reward rather than a signal of value, or the outcome is moral condemnation rather than proliferation.

Key Concept

Structural Mapping of Analogous Situations
Estimated Time:2m 0s
Rate this question

Topics

Identifying Analogous Situations

More questions from this topic