LSAT 140 – Section 3 – Question 20

LSAT 140 - Section 3 - Question 20

December 2013

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Question QuickView	Type	Tags	Answer Choices	Curve	Question Difficulty	Psg/Game/S Difficulty	Explanation
PT140 S3 Q20	+LR	Flaw or descriptive weakening +Flaw Causal Reasoning +CausR	A 17% 162 B 62% 166 C 1% 156 D 2% 153 E 17% 164	141 157 173	+Harder	149.74 +SubsectionMedium

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Taylor: From observing close friends and relatives, it is clear to me that telepathy is indeed possible between people with close psychic ties. The amazing frequency with which a good friend or family member knows what one is thinking or feeling cannot be dismissed as mere coincidence.

Summarize Argument: Phenomenon-Hypothesis

Taylor concludes that telepathy is possible between people with close psychic ties. He supports this by saying that the frequent ability of a close friend or family member to know what you're thinking or feeling can't be a coincidence.

Identify and Describe Flaw

Taylor concludes that telepathy is possible because it explains how people can sense their close friends’ and family members’ thoughts and feelings. However, he overlooks other possible— and far more probable— explanations. For example, maybe friends and relatives can sense each other’s thoughts because they spend a lot of time together and know each other very well, not because they’re telepathic.

is based on too small a sample to yield a reliable conclusion

We don’t know how many friends and relatives Taylor observed. But even if he only observed a few, his conclusion is that telepathy is possible, not that most or all friends and relatives are telepathic. To show that something is possible, Taylor only needs to observe it once.

fails to address a highly plausible alternative explanation for all instances of the observed phenomenon

A highly plausible alternative explanation for why friends and relatives can sense each other’s thoughts and feelings is simply that they spend time together and know each other well. Taylor fails to rule out this explanation, concluding instead that these people are telepathic.

relies crucially on an illegitimate appeal to emotion

Taylor talks about people’s thoughts and feelings, but his argument doesn’t rely on an appeal to emotion. He just notes that friends and relatives can sometimes sense each other’s emotions.

presumes, without providing justification, that one can never know what a stranger is thinking or feeling

Taylor’s argument only addresses friends’ and relatives’ ability to sense each other’s thoughts and feelings. He doesn’t make any assumptions about strangers. Whether strangers can sometimes sense people’s thoughts and feelings has no impact on Taylor’s argument.

appeals to a premise one would accept only if one already accepted the truth of the conclusion

This is the cookie-cutter flaw of circular reasoning. Taylor doesn't make this mistake. One can accept his premise— that friends and relatives can often sense each other’s thoughts and feelings— without first accepting his conclusion— that telepathy is possible.

LSAT 140 – Section 3 – Question 20

LSAT 140 - Section 3 - Question 20

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LSAT PrepTest 140 Explanations

Section 1 - Logical Reasoning

Section 2 - Logical Reasoning

Section 3 - Logical Reasoning

Section 4 - Reading Comprehension

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