LSAT 131 – Section 2 – Question 04
LSAT 131 - Section 2 - Question 04
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| Question QuickView |
Type | Tags | Answer Choices |
Curve | Question Difficulty |
Psg/Game/S Difficulty |
Explanation |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| PT131 S2 Q04 |
+LR
| Flaw or descriptive weakening +Flaw Causal Reasoning +CausR | A
0%
150
B
1%
154
C
2%
154
D
0%
153
E
97%
164
|
125 133 141 |
+Easiest | 147.936 +SubsectionMedium |
The question stem reads: The reasoning in the scientist’s argument is most vulnerable to criticism on grounds that the argument… This is a Flaw question.
The scientist claims to have discovered that several years of atmospheric pollution during the 1500s coincided with a period of relatively high global temperatures. The scientist concludes, in this case (the period during the 1500s), that atmospheric pollution caused the global temperature to rise.
Right off the bat, we can see that the scientist has taken a correlation to mean causation. Sure atmospheric pollution coincided with higher global temperature, but perhaps the higher global temperature caused the pollution. Perhaps both were derivative effects of the same cause! As a scientist, they really should know better.
Answer Choice (A) is incorrect. The scientist has nothing to say about whether or not rising global temperatures are harmful.
Answer Choice (B) is incorrect. The scientist has not drawn a general rule. He says that atmospheric pollution caused global temperatures to rise in this case. Even if the scientist drew a general rule, we wouldn’t know whether the 1500s were likely or unlikely to be representative.
Answer Choice (C) is incorrect. (C) is very similar to (B). We can rule (C) out because the scientist did not draw a general rule.
Answer choice (D) is incorrect. Sure, we have to assume that the data methods are reliable, but that is not a flaw in reasoning.
Correct Answer Choice (E) is what we discussed. The author has assumed that the correlation between atmospheric pollution and the rising global temperature of the 1500s implies that atmospheric pollution caused the temperatures to rise.
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LSAT PrepTest 131 Explanations
Section 1 - Logical Reasoning
- Question 01
- Question 02
- Question 03
- Question 04
- Question 05
- Question 06
- Question 07
- Question 08
- Question 09
- Question 10
- Question 11
- Question 12
- Question 13
- Question 14
- Question 15
- Question 16
- Question 17
- Question 18
- Question 19
- Question 20
- Question 21
- Question 22
- Question 23
- Question 24
- Question 25
Section 2 - Logical Reasoning
- Question 01
- Question 02
- Question 03
- Question 04
- Question 05
- Question 06
- Question 07
- Question 08
- Question 09
- Question 10
- Question 11
- Question 12
- Question 13
- Question 14
- Question 15
- Question 16
- Question 17
- Question 18
- Question 19
- Question 20
- Question 21
- Question 22
- Question 23
- Question 24
- Question 25
- Question 26
Section 3 - Logical Reasoning
- Question 01
- Question 02
- Question 03
- Question 04
- Question 05
- Question 06
- Question 07
- Question 08
- Question 09
- Question 10
- Question 11
- Question 12
- Question 13
- Question 14
- Question 15
- Question 16
- Question 17
- Question 18
- Question 19
- Question 20
- Question 21
- Question 22
- Question 23
- Question 24
- Question 25
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