LSAT 142 – Section 2 – Question 08

LSAT 142 - Section 2 - Question 08

December 2014

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Question QuickView	Type	Tags	Answer Choices	Curve	Question Difficulty	Psg/Game/S Difficulty	Explanation
PT142 S2 Q08	+LR +Exp	Flaw or descriptive weakening +Flaw Causal Reasoning +CausR	A 81% 165 B 5% 158 C 5% 157 D 5% 161 E 4% 157	129 143 157	+Medium	146.338 +SubsectionMedium

Marcia: Not all vegetarian diets lead to nutritional deficiencies. Research shows that vegetarians can obtain a full complement of proteins and minerals from nonanimal foods.

Theodora: You are wrong in claiming that vegetarianism cannot lead to nutritional deficiencies. If most people became vegetarians, some of those losing jobs due to the collapse of many meat-based industries would fall into poverty and hence be unable to afford a nutritionally adequate diet.

Summarize Argument: Counter-Position

Theodora concludes that Marcia is wrong in claiming that vegetarianism cannot lead to nutritional deficiencies. She supports this by saying that if most people became vegetarians, those in meat industries would lose their jobs, fall into poverty, and struggle to afford a healthy diet.

Identify and Describe Flaw

This is an example of a “straw man” argument, where the author misrepresents her opponent’s argument, making it easier to attack. Here, Theodora concludes that Marcia is wrong in claiming that vegetarianism cannot lead to nutritional deficiencies. But Marcia never made this claim. Instead, Marcia claimed that not all vegetarian diets lead to nutritional deficiencies. So Theodora is attacking a distorted version of Marcia’s argument, rather than her actual argument.

is directed toward disproving a claim that Marcia did not make

Theodora’s argument is directed toward disproving the claim that vegetarianism cannot lead to nutritional deficiencies. But Marcia merely claimed that not all vegetarian diets lead to nutritional deficiencies.

ignores the results of the research cited by Marcia

Theodora does ignore Marcia’s research, but this isn’t what makes her argument most vulnerable to criticism. Even if she had addressed Marcia’s research, her argument would still be vulnerable to criticism on the grounds that it misrepresents a key claim made by Marcia.

takes for granted that no meat-based industries will collapse unless most people become vegetarians

Theodora assumes that some meat-based industries would collapse if most people became vegetarians. She doesn't assume that no meat-based industries would collapse unless most people became vegetarians.

uses the word “diet” in a nontechnical sense whereas Marcia’s argument uses this term in a medical sense

This is the cookie-cutter flaw of equivocation, where the same term is used in different ways. Theodora doesn’t make this mistake; she uses the word “diet” in the same way as Marcia.

takes for granted that people losing jobs in meat-based industries would become vegetarians

Theodora assumes that people in meat based-industries would lose their jobs if most people became vegetarians. She never assumes that the people who lose their jobs would all become vegetarians themselves.

LSAT 142 – Section 2 – Question 08

LSAT 142 - Section 2 - Question 08

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Review Results

LSAT PrepTest 142 Explanations

Section 1 - Logical Reasoning

Section 2 - Logical Reasoning

Section 3 - Reading Comprehension

Section 4 - Logical Reasoning

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