LSAT 103 – Section 2 – Question 15

LSAT 103 - Section 2 - Question 15

September 1998

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Question QuickView	Type	Tags	Answer Choices	Curve	Question Difficulty	Psg/Game/S Difficulty	Explanation
PT103 S2 Q15	+LR	Flaw or descriptive weakening +Flaw Link Assumption +LinkA	A 13% 164 B 11% 160 C 64% 169 D 10% 167 E 3% 162	148 160 172	+Hardest	149.468 +SubsectionMedium

Editorialist: Society is obliged to bestow the privileges of adulthood upon its members once they are mature enough to accept the corresponding responsibilities. But science has established that physiological development is completed in most persons by age seventeen. Since this maturing process has been completed by most seventeen-year-olds, there is no reason not to grant these citizens all of the privileges of adulthood.

Summarize Argument

The author concludes that there is no reason not to grant most 17-year-olds the privileges of adulthood. This is based on the fact that society is obligated to grant these privileges to all of its members who are mature enough to accept the corresponding responsibilities. And, science has shown that physiological development — which the author calls the “maturing process” — is completed in most people by the age of 17.

Identify and Describe Flaw

The author shifts between two meanings of “mature.” Although society is obligated to grant the privileges of adulthood to people who are “mature” enough to accept corresponding responsibilities, this use of “mature” refers to one’s mental and moral development, not physiological development. But the author then relies on the physiological maturity of most 17-year-olds. This is a different sense of the concept “mature.”

assumes what it is trying to prove

The author does not use circular reasoning. None of the premises assumes that there’s no reason not to grant most 17-year-olds the privileges of adulthood.

too hastily reaches a general conclusion on the basis of a few examples

The author does not cite to a few examples to support his conclusion. The author instead cites to a principle regarding what society is obligated to do, as well as what science has established. Neither of these premises involve individual examples.

equivocates with respect to a central concept

The author equivocates with respect to the central concept of maturity. The principle regarding society’s obligations uses “maturity” in its mental or moral sense. But the author then relies on evidence regarding “maturity” in its physical development sense.

too readily accepts a claim by appeal to inappropriate authority

The author does not rely on authority to support his conclusion. He doesn’t ask us to believe the conclusion because an authority has said it or otherwise supports it.

ignores the fact that some people are mature at age sixteen

The author never assumes that 16-year-olds are never mature. He acknowledges that the physical maturing process is complete by the time most people reach seventeen; this allows for people to become mature before 17.

LSAT 103 – Section 2 – Question 15

LSAT 103 - Section 2 - Question 15

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LSAT PrepTest 103 Explanations

Section 1 - Logical Reasoning

Section 2 - Logical Reasoning

Section 3 - Logical Reasoning

Section 4 - Reading Comprehension

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