LSAT 113 – Section 3 – Question 16

LSAT 113 - Section 3 - Question 16

June 2002

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Question
QuickView		 Type Tags Answer
Choices		 Curve Question
Difficulty		 Psg/Game/S
Difficulty		 Explanation
PT113 S3 Q16
+LR
+Exp
Weaken +Weak
Rule-Application +RuleApp
Value Judgment +ValJudg
A
4%
156
B
3%
159
C
1%
154
D
7%
161
E
85%
167
137
147
157
 +Medium 146.265 +SubsectionMedium

Because addictive drugs are physically harmful, their use by athletes is never justified. Purists, however, claim that taking massive doses of even such nonaddictive drugs as aspirin and vitamins before competing should also be prohibited because they are unnatural. This is ridiculous; almost everything in sports is unnatural, from high-tech running shoes to padded boxing gloves to highly-specialized bodybuilding machines. Yet, none of these is prohibited on the basis of its being unnatural. Furthermore, we should be attending to far more serious problems that plague modern sports and result in unnecessary deaths and injuries. Therefore, the use of nonaddictive drugs by athletes should not be prohibited.

Summarize Argument
The author concludes that athletes’ use of nonaddictive drugs should not be banned. As support, the author claims that almost everything in sports is unnatural (and that many things are permitted despite being unnatural). The author also says that focus should be on more serious issues in sports that result in deaths and injuries instead of focusing on banning nonaddictive drugs because they are unnatural.

Notable Assumptions
The author assumes that nonaddictive drugs are not physically harmful and do not result in injury or death. Additionally, the author just rejects one reason to ban nonaddictive drugs, then claims that nonaddictive drugs should not be banned. The most that the author has done is demonstrate that nonaddictive drugs should not be banned on the basis of being unnatural; there could be other reasons why nonaddictive drugs should be banned.

A
Massive doses of aspirin and vitamins enhance athletic performance.
The examples of tools given by the author (high-tech running shoes and specialized machines) also enhance athletic performance. The author isn’t saying that things that enhance athletic performance should be banned; the author is just saying that nonaddictive drugs shouldn’t be banned.
B
Addictive drugs are just as unnatural as nonaddictive drugs like aspirin and vitamins.
The author believes that addictive drugs should be banned. But this is because they are physically harmful, not because they are unnatural. Also, the argument concerns nonaddictive drugs, so additional information about addictive drugs does not weaken the argument.
C
Unnecessary deaths and injuries occur in other walks of life besides modern sports.
The argument is about whether or not nonaddictive drugs should be banned in sports; risk of death or injury in other areas of life is completely irrelevant to the specific claims made in this argument.
D
There would be more unnecessary deaths and injuries if it were not for running shoes, boxing gloves, and bodybuilding machines.
(D) demonstrates some benefits of other unnatural tools used in sports; this does not weaken the argument. This actually gives a reason that some unnatural things have a positive role in sports.
E
Taking massive doses of aspirin or vitamins can be physically harmful.
The author accepts that addictive drugs are banned because they are physically harmful; there is no information given on the physical impacts of nonaddictive drugs. If nonaddictive drugs are physically harmful, the argument that they shouldn’t be banned is much weaker.

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LSAT PrepTest 113 Explanations

Section 1 - Reading Comprehension

Section 2 - Logical Reasoning

Section 3 - Logical Reasoning

Section 4 - Logical Reasoning

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