LSAT 142 – Section 2 – Question 24

LSAT 142 - Section 2 - Question 24

December 2014

You need a full course to see this video. Enroll now and get started in less than a minute.

Ask a tutor

Target time: 1:43

This is question data from the 7Sage LSAT Scorer. You can score your LSATs, track your results, and analyze your performance with pretty charts and vital statistics - all with a Free Account ← sign up in less than 10 seconds

Question
QuickView		 Type Tags Answer
Choices		 Curve Question
Difficulty		 Psg/Game/S
Difficulty		 Explanation
PT142 S2 Q24
+LR
+Exp
Sufficient assumption +SA
Conditional Reasoning +CondR
Causal Reasoning +CausR
Link Assumption +LinkA
A
2%
159
B
67%
167
C
7%
158
D
18%
159
E
6%
157
151
159
166
 +Harder 146.338 +SubsectionMedium

Historian: It is unlikely that someone would see history as the working out of moral themes unless he or she held clear and unambiguous moral beliefs. However, one’s inclination to morally judge human behavior decreases as one’s knowledge of history increases. Consequently, the more history a person knows, the less likely that person is to view history as the working out of moral themes.

Summary
The author concludes that the more history a person knows, the less likely that person will view history as the working out of moral themes. This is based on the following:
If one does not hold clear and unambiguous moral beliefs, then it’s unlikely one will see history as the working out of moral themes.
As one gains knowledge of history, one will tend to be less likely to morally judge human behaavior.

Missing Connection
We’re trying to get from “more history a person knows” to “less likely to see history as working out of moral themes.”
We have a premise that tells us “more history a person knows” leads to “less inclined to morally judge human behavior.” And we have a premise that tells us “not holding clear and unambiguous moral beliefs” leads to “less likely to see history as working out of moral themes.” So there’s a way to get from “more history a person knows” to “less likely to see history as working out of moral themes,” as long as we add the following to connect the two premises:
“less inclined to morally judge human behavior” implies “less likely to hold clear and unambiguous moral beliefs”

A
Historical events that fail to elicit moral disapproval are generally not considered to exemplify a moral theme.
Adding (A) to the argument doesn’t create a connection between “less inclined to morally judge human behavior” and “less likely to have clear and unambiguous moral beliefs.” So we still cannot get from “more history one knows” to “less likely to view history as the working out of moral themes.”
B
The less inclined one is to morally judge human behavior, the less likely it is that one holds clear and unambiguous moral beliefs.
(B) allows us to chain the two premises together to form the following:

more history a person knows → less inclined to morally judge human behavior → not holding clear and unambiguous moral beliefs → less likely to see history as working out of moral themes

C
Only those who do not understand human history attribute moral significance to historical events.
The conclusion concerns what happens as one’s knowledge of history increases. But neither the conclusion nor premises involve the absolute category of “those who do not understand history.” So (C) does not establish that the more history one knows, the less likely one is to view history as the working out of moral themes.
D
The more clear and unambiguous one’s moral beliefs, the more likely one is to view history as the working out of moral themes.
Even if (D) were added to the premises, we still have no connection between “less inclined to morally judge human behavior” and “less likely to have clear and unambiguous moral beliefs.” So we still cannot get from “more history one knows” to “less likely to view history as the working out of moral themes.”
E
People tend to be less objective regarding a subject about which they possess extensive knowledge than regarding a subject about which they do not possess extensive knowledge.
The quality of being “less objective regarding a subject” has no connection to the concepts in the argument. With (E), we still have no connection between “less inclined to morally judge human behavior” and “less likely to have clear and unambiguous moral beliefs.” So we still cannot get from “more history one knows” to “less likely to view history as the working out of moral themes.”

Take PrepTest

Review Results

LSAT PrepTest 142 Explanations

Section 1 - Logical Reasoning

Section 2 - Logical Reasoning

Section 3 - Reading Comprehension

Section 4 - Logical Reasoning

Get full LSAT course

Leave a Reply