LSAT 151 – Section 3 – Question 04

LSAT 151 - Section 3 - Question 04

September 2018

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Question
QuickView		 Type Tags Answer
Choices		 Curve Question
Difficulty		 Psg/Game/S
Difficulty		 Explanation
PT151 S3 Q04
+LR
Sufficient assumption +SA
Conditional Reasoning +CondR
Link Assumption +LinkA
A
1%
143
B
96%
161
C
1%
145
D
1%
150
E
0%
141
132
138
143
 +Easier 146.292 +SubsectionMedium

There are only two possible reasons that it would be wrong to engage in an activity that causes pollution: because pollution harms ecosystems, which are valuable in themselves; or, ecosystems aside, because pollution harms human populations. Either way, it would not be wrong to perform mining operations on Mars. Although doing so would pollute Mars, the small human presence needed to run the mining operation would be completely protected from the Martian environment and would suffer no harm.

Summary
The author concludes that it would not be wrong to perform mining operations on Mars. Why? Because of the following:
These are the only 2 reasons it could be wrong to engage in an activity that causes pollution: (1) the pollution harms ecosystems, OR (2) pollution harms human populations.
Mining operations on Mars would pollute, but would not harm human populations.

Missing Connection
In order to be wrong, the mining operations must either harm ecosystems or harm human populations. We know that the operations won’t harm humans. But the premises don’t establish that the operations won’t harm ecosystems. So if we want to conclude that the operations would not be wrong, we want to know that they won’t harm ecosystems.

A
Mining creates less pollution than many other human activities.
(A) doesn’t establish that the mining operations on Mars won’t harm ecosystems.
B
There are no ecosystems on Mars.
(B) establishes that the mining operations won’t harm ecosystems. After all, if there are no ecosystem on Mars, then the mining operations there have no ecosystems to harm.
C
The economic benefits of mining on Mars would outweigh its costs.
(C) doesn’t establish that the mining operations on Mars won’t harm ecosystems.
D
It is technologically feasible to perform mining operations on Mars.
(D) doesn’t establish that the mining operations on Mars won’t harm ecosystems.
E
The more complex an ecosystem is, the more valuable it is.
(E) doesn’t establish that the mining operations on Mars won’t harm ecosystems.

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LSAT PrepTest 151 Explanations

Section 1 - Reading Comprehension

Section 2 - Logical Reasoning

Section 3 - Logical Reasoning

Section 4 - Logical Reasoning

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