LSAT 151 – Section 4 – Question 19

LSAT 151 - Section 4 - Question 19

September 2018

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Question QuickView	Type	Tags	Answer Choices	Curve	Question Difficulty	Psg/Game/S Difficulty	Explanation
PT151 S4 Q19	+LR +Exp	Inference +Inf Conditional Reasoning +CondR Rule-Application +RuleApp Value Judgment +ValJudg	A 8% 161 B 21% 160 C 49% 165 D 19% 158 E 4% 159	153 163 173	+Hardest	145.196 +SubsectionEasier

J.Y.’s explanation

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Any government practice that might facilitate the abuse of power should not be undertaken except in cases in which there is a compelling reason to do so. The keeping of government secrets is one such practice. Though government officials are sometimes justified in keeping secrets, too often they keep secrets for insubstantial reasons, and in so doing they wind up enabling abuses of power. When government officials conceal from the public the very fact that they are keeping a secret, this practice opens up even greater opportunity for abuse.

Summary

For any government practice that might facilitate abuse of power:
If there’s no compelling reason to do the practice → don’t do it
Keeping government secrets is a practice that might facilitate abuse of power.
Concealing the keeping of a government secret is another kind of practice that might facilitate abuse of power.

Very Strongly Supported Conclusions

If there’s no compelling reason to keep a government secret, the government should not keep the secret.
If there’s no compelling reason to conceal the fact that the government is keeping a secret, the government should not conceal the fact they are keeping a secret.
Note that keeping a secret and concealing the keeping of a secret are two different actions.

In most cases in which government officials conceal information from the public, they are not justified in doing so.

We know that “too often” the government keeps secrets for reasons that aren’t compelling. And in these cases, the government is unjustified in keeping secrets. But we don’t know that “too often” is “most cases.” “Too often” doesn’t have to mean over half.

In those cases in which government officials have a compelling reason to keep a secret, doing so does not facilitate an abuse of power.

Keeping a secret is a practice that might facilitate abuse of power. Even if it’s justified, it still might facilitate abuse of power. It might just be a justified case of doing something that facilitates abuse of power.

A government official who justifiably keeps a secret should not conceal its existence without having a compelling reason to do so.

Must be true. We know concealing the existence of a secret might facilitate abuse of power. So if there’s no compelling reason to conceal the keeping of a secret, one should not conceal the keeping of a secret, regardless of whether the keeping of a secret is justified.

Government officials who conceal information without a compelling reason are thereby guilty of an abuse of power.

We know concealing a secret without a compelling reason to do so is unjustified. But this doesn’t imply that concealing the secret is an abuse of power. We do not know from the stimulus what constitutes an abuse of power.

Government officials should keep information secret only if doing so does not make it easier for those officials to abuse their power.

We don’t have any support for conditioning the keeping of a secret on not making it easier to abuse power. In fact, if there’s a compelling reason to keep a secret, then that might be something that’s justified even if it facilitates abuse of power.

LSAT 151 – Section 4 – Question 19

LSAT 151 - Section 4 - Question 19

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J.Y.’s explanation

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Review Results

LSAT PrepTest 151 Explanations

Section 1 - Reading Comprehension

Section 2 - Logical Reasoning

Section 3 - Logical Reasoning

Section 4 - Logical Reasoning

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