Confusion about : "The {person}'s argument proceeds by...."

LindsMitch

I am a little confused about questions in which a scientist/critic/psychologist/whatever will state their opinion on something, often giving context and then their own argument. Then the question stem will ask "The scientist's argument proceeds by..."

A good example of this is Question 20 from PT 68 section 3. I missed this question in timed conditions and in BR, seemingly because I just misunderstood what it was asking me to look for. I took "proceeds by" to mean what comes before the actual argument, so the context, and I selected answer choice E, even though JY just breezes past this one in the explanation video. Now I see that my brain tricked me into thinking the question was actually "precedes by" rather than "proceeds by."

I am certain I have come across similarly worded questions before, though I don't think they are super common. When I do encounter these questions, are they just asking me about the structure of the argument ?

LSATcantwin

Yes, generally these questions want to know what kind of argument the person is making.

Are they arguing by analogy?
Are they assuming what they are trying to prove?

This is one of those question types that wants you to step back and describe what is going on in the stimulus.

LindsMitch

@LSATcantwin Thanks! That makes complete sense. Can't afford to be missing the meaning of the questions stems at this point ... It was one of three questions I missed in the whole section and when I realized why I felt pretty silly!