LSAT 61 – Section 4 – Question 26

LSAT 61 - Section 4 - Question 26

October 2010

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Question
QuickView		 Type Tags Answer
Choices		 Curve Question
Difficulty		 Psg/Game/S
Difficulty		 Explanation
PT61 S4 Q26
+LR
Parallel flawed method of reasoning +PF
A
4%
159
B
60%
166
C
16%
162
D
12%
161
E
7%
159
149
161
173
 +Hardest 146.108 +SubsectionMedium

The first statement of the passage tells us, translated:
NOT educated population --> economically and politically weak

Taking the contrapositive, we get:
NOT economically and politically weak --> educated population

The next statement tells us, translated:
educated population --> commit to public education

Connect the two statements up and we get:
NOT economically and politically weak --> educated population --> commit to public education

From this, we are able to validly draw the conclusion that:
NOT economically and politically weak --> commit to public education

But, of course, the invalid conclusion actually drawn is:
commit to public education --> NOT economically and politically weak

The general form of this invalid argument is as follows:
A --> B --> C
__________
C --> A

Answer choice (B) exhibits the same form.

The first statement tells us that, translated:
incapable of empathy --> not good candidates

Contraposed, it says:
good candidates --> capable of empathy

The second statement tells us that, translated:
capable of empathy --> manipulate

Connect the two statements up and we get:
good candidates --> capable of empathy --> manipulate

From this, we are able to validly draw the conclusion that:
good candidates --> manipulate

But, of course, the invalid conclusion actually drawn is:
manipulate --> good candidates

As you can see, this argument, like the one in the passage, also takes the invalid form of:
A --> B --> C
__________
C --> A

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LSAT PrepTest 61 Explanations

Section 1 - Reading Comprehension

Section 2 - Logical Reasoning

Section 3 - Logic Games

Section 4 - Logical Reasoning

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