PT70.S1.Q09 - astronomer: proponents of the hypothesis

danielznelsondanielznelson Alum Inactive Sage Inactive ⭐
edited April 2016 in Logical Reasoning 4181 karma
Okay, BR-group people, don't get at me for this one (though I won't blame you if you do)... but I missed this question in my personal blind review, which was before the 4/23 BR group and didn't catch it until afterwards. I initially selected "A" but changed my answer to "D" during my blind review.

My issue with "A" was that I didn't see the astronomer concluding "there is evidence against [the hypothesis that life evolved extraterrestrially]" but that the hypothesis could be regarded as false simply because proponents of it only had evidence against another hypothesis and no evidence to support their own hypothesis. Is this in itself the "evidence"? In the final half of "A," what is the word "evidence" in "that there is evidence against that hypothesis" referring to exactly?

Thanks in advance!
https://7sage.com/lsat_explanations/lsat-70-section-1-question-09/

Comments

  • johnz333johnz333 Member
    101 karma
    I actually had the same question the first time I did this PT a couple weeks ago (before the group BR schedule came out) and talked to @"Quick Silver" about it. If I still understand it correctly, he explained that evidence should be thought of as "reason to believe" and not necessarily hard facts. So when A says, the argument concluded that "there is evidence against the hypothesis" it can be read as "the argument concluded there is reason to believe the hypothesis is false."

    In D, the premises don't really contradict the conclusion, the conclusion just doesn't think the premises are true.

    Hope that helps. Not sure if there's more to the reasoning that I missed.

  • danielznelsondanielznelson Alum Inactive Sage Inactive ⭐
    4181 karma
    No, that's perfect. I've found that the newer tests make use of more peculiar (or perhaps more literal) meanings/definitions of individual words or phrases. Thanks!
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