LSAT PrepTest 123 - Section 3 - Question 5

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Atrens: An early entomologist observed ants carrying particles to neighboring ant colonies and inferred that the ants were bringing food to their neighbors. Further research, however, revealed that Support the ants were emptying their own colony's dumping site. Thus, Conclusion the early entomologist was wrong.

Summary

Atrens concludes that the entomologist was wrong in inferring that the ants were bringing food to their neighbors. He supports this by saying that the particles that the ants carried to neighboring colonies were from their own colony’s dumping site.

Missing Connection

Atrens concludes that the ants were not bringing food to their neighbors because they were carrying particles from their own dumping site. However, he never establishes that particles from the ants’ dumping site could not also be food.

In other words, to get from his premise to his conclusion, Atrens must assume that particles from the dumping site could not be used as food.

Atrens's conclusion follows logically if which one of the following is assumed?

Ant societies do not interact in all the same ways that human societies interact.

This tells us nothing about whether particles from the ants’ dumping site could be used as food. The fact that ant societies interact differently than human societies does not guarantee the conclusion that the ants were not carrying food to their neighbors.

There is only weak evidence for the view that ants have the capacity to make use of objects as gifts.

Just because there’s weak evidence for this view doesn’t guarantee the conclusion that the ants were not carrying food to their neighbors. (B) fails to establish that the particles from the dumping site couldn’t be used as food.

Ant dumping sites do not contain particles that could be used as food.

If ant dumping sites don’t contain particles that could be used as food, then the dumping site particles that the ants were carrying to neighboring colonies could not be used as food. This guarantees the conclusion that the ants were not carrying food to their neighbors.

76%

The ants to whom the particles were brought never carried the particles into their own colonies.

Just because the neighboring ants never brought the particles into their colonies does not prove that the original ants were not carrying food to their neighbors. Instead, we need to establish that the particles from the dumping site couldn’t be used as food.

The entomologist cited retracted his conclusion when it was determined that the particles the ants carried came from their dumping site.

Just because the entomologist retracted his conclusion doesn’t necessarily prove that his conclusion was wrong. We still need to establish that the particles from the dumping site couldn’t be used as food.