LSAT 109 – Section 4 – Question 21

LSAT 109 - Section 4 - Question 21

December 2000

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Question QuickView	Type	Tags	Answer Choices	Curve	Question Difficulty	Psg/Game/S Difficulty	Explanation
PT109 S4 Q21	+LR +Exp	Flaw or descriptive weakening +Flaw Conditional Reasoning +CondR Quantifier +Quant	A 2% 161 B 4% 158 C 5% 159 D 81% 167 E 8% 163	143 153 162	+Harder	150.49 +SubsectionHarder

Terry: Some actions considered to be bad by our society have favorable consequences. But an action is good only if it has favorable consequences. So, some actions considered to be bad by our society are actually good.

Pat: I agree with your conclusion, but not with the reasons you give for it. Some good actions actually do not have favorable consequences. But no actions considered to be bad by our society have favorable consequences, so your conclusion, that some actions our society considers bad are actually good, still holds.

Terry says that some actions considered to be bad by our society are actually good. As premises, he gives two conditional claims, shown in the diagram below. Pat arrives at the same conclusion, that some actions considered to be bad by our society are actually good, but he arrives at this conclusion by citing two different conditional claims, shown in the diagram below.

Identify and Describe Flaw

Both speakers commit the cookie-cutter “confusing sufficiency and necessity” flaw. Terry mistakenly argues that since some bad actions and all good actions share the necessary condition of favorable consequences, some actions considered bad are actually good. Alternatively, Pat mistakenly argues that because some good actions and all bad actions share the necessary condition of not having good consequences, some actions considered bad are actually good.

presupposing that if a certain property distinguishes one type of action from another type of action, then that property is one of many properties distinguishing the two types of action

Neither Terry nor Pat makes assumptions about the number of properties distinguishing actions. They only argue that some actions considered bad by our society are actually good.

presupposing that if most actions of a certain type share a certain property, then all actions of that type share that property

This is a cookie-cutter flaw of confusing “most” for “all.” Neither Terry nor Pat discusses “most” actions of any type.

presupposing that if a certain property is shared by actions of a certain type in a given society, then that property is shared by actions of that type in every society

Neither Terry nor Pat discusses “every” society. Both Terry and Pat only argue that some actions considered to be bad by our society are actually good.

presupposing that if an action’s having a certain property is necessary for its being a certain type of action, then having that property is sufficient for being that type of action

This is the cookie-cutter “confusing sufficiency and necessity” flaw committed by both Terry and Pat. They both draw unfounded conclusions about two sufficient conditions because those sufficient conditions share a necessary condition.

presupposing that if a certain property is shared by two types of action, then that property is the only property distinguishing the two types of action from actions of other types

Neither Terry’s argument nor Pat’s argument addresses the number of properties distinguishing any actions. Both Terry and Pat just argue that some actions considered to be bad by our society are actually good.

LSAT 109 – Section 4 – Question 21

LSAT 109 - Section 4 - Question 21

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LSAT PrepTest 109 Explanations

Section 1 - Logical Reasoning

Section 2 - Reading Comprehension

Section 3 - Logical Reasoning

Section 4 - Logical Reasoning

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