Necessary Assumptions

harrismegan

Hello! I feel like I ask a LOT of questions, but oh well.
Necessary assumptions. I'm having trouble with them. I've been through how they're explained via the course, but can someone else maybe offer up an explanation for how to reach a correct answer?

I usually identify the conclusion. Identify the premise. But then how is it best to be solved? I know that there's a whole... negate the answer choice and if your argument breaks down, then it's correct, but I often get lost/confused when I start negating the answers.

Thanks!

Iggy Minaj

I have the same problem! I usually get the premise and conclusion that JY gets but then I don't know how to get to the correct answer...

LSATisland

Necessary assumptions are distinct from Sufficient assumptions. In sufficient assumption Qs, you are looking for an assumption which is sufficient to allow the conclusion to be drawn from the premise. There may be many potential sufficient assumptions. In Necessary assumption Qs, you are looking for what must be true.

One way to view the difference is the following:

Premise + Sufficient Assumption = Conclusion

In Necessary Assumptions:

Conclusion from Premise = Necessary Assumption

Note the different directions.

An example may help explain this:

Premise: It is about to rain.
Conclusion: Therefore, I should go inside if I want to stay dry.
Necessary Assumption: I do not have an umbrella.

In a necessary assumption, we are using the conclusion to extract a truth. The conclusion is only valid if the necessary assumption is true. In the above example, it only makes sense to go inside to keep dry if I cannot keep dry outside, i.e that I don't have an umbrella.

I hope this helps. Feel free to PM me if you want more help.

tanes256

@LSATisland you're explanation is great! I think I may have it now. Thx!