LSAT 118 – Section 3 – Question 11

LSAT 118 - Section 3 - Question 11

December 2004

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Question
QuickView		 Type Tags Answer
Choices		 Curve Question
Difficulty		 Psg/Game/S
Difficulty		 Explanation
PT118 S3 Q11
+LR
+Exp
Strengthen +Streng
Link Assumption +LinkA
A
4%
159
B
1%
162
C
72%
168
D
22%
161
E
1%
155
147
156
166
 +Harder 146.785 +SubsectionMedium

Biologist: Humans have five fingers because we descended from a fish with five phalanges in its fins. Despite our prejudices to the contrary, our configuration of fingers is no more or less useful than several other possible configurations, e.g., six per hand. So, if humans had descended from a fish with six phalanges in its fins and had six fingers on each hand, then we would be just as content with that configuration.

Summarize Argument
The biologist concludes that humans would be equally satisfied with six fingers if they’d descended from a six-fingered fish. This is because five fingers are no more or less useful than six fingers.

Notable Assumptions
In order for humans to be equally satisfied by six fingers, biologist assumes that humans are equally satisfied by equally useful things. The biologist shifts from usefulness to satisfaction without justification.

A
Everyone is equally content with our present configuration of fingers.
We don’t need everyone in the world to be content with our present configuration. Besides, the biologist never claims we actually are content with having five fingers. She claims we would be equally content with six fingers, but we don’t know how content that is.
B
Humans are never equally content with two things of unequal usefulness.
We’re not talking about things of unequal usefulness. We’re interested in things that are equally useful.
C
Humans are always equally content with two things of equal usefulness.
Humans are equally content with two equally useful things—in this case, hands with five or six fingers. This clarifies the relationship between contentment and usefulness.
D
The perceived usefulness of our configuration of fingers is an illusory result of our prejudices.
Five fingers seem to be pretty useful. We need to strengthen the claim that humans would be as content with six fingers.
E
At least one species of fish had six phalanges in its fins.
Irrelevant. Humans descended from a fish with five phalanges.

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LSAT PrepTest 118 Explanations

Section 1 - Logical Reasoning

Section 2 - Reading Comprehension

Section 3 - Logical Reasoning

Section 4 - Logical Reasoning

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