Logical reasoning PrepTest 157 · Section 3 · Question 9

Question prompt

Most lawyers hold that Remaining source text redacted.
Why the credited answer is right

Credited answer: D

The notes below walk through why it fits the stem and how to eliminate the rest.

Argument or Facts

Argument

Valid or Flawed

Flawed

Strategy Overview

Argument or facts? Always argument, so identify premises and conclusions of argument Anticipate why the premises are not enough to prove that the conclusion is true.
Checking to see if a common logical fallacy is committed is very helpful.

Answer Anticipation

On an Errors in Reasoning question, we should take the time to articulate why the premise or premises aren't enough to prove that the conclusion is true. To that end, we can examine whether the conclusion makes any bold claims or whether the argument relies on any reasoning techniques associated with common flaws. In this case, the argument relies on one of the most common reasoning techniques: the analogy. On the LSAT, analogies almost always take the same form. The author reasons that because X and Y are similar in one way, they must be similar in other ways, too. The author will typically assert that since X has a given characteristic, Y must have that characteristic too. This argument fits that model to a T. The author claims that real estate and websites are similar in one way: they use similar terms, like "site" and "visiting." From that, the author infers that real estate and websites must be similar in other ways. So, if the law of trespass protects people who own real estate from "encroachment," then trespass must protect people who own websites from "encroachment," too. This line of reasoning is flawed because, so often, the two things compared aren't all that similar. And that's probably the case here. How similar are real estate and websites, really? Websites aren't physical structures, and it'd be weird to post memes on a house. Using a few similar words isn't enough to say that the two areas are so similar that the same laws should apply to each. After all, "visiting" other people's websites without an invitation is something we do every day without incident; "visiting" other people's houses without an invitation can land you in jail. So, the correct answer will almost certainly point out that the author overlooks potential differences between these two areas. Let's hunt for that answer choice.

Answer choices

  1. A
    fails to provide adequate Remaining source text redacted.
    Why choice A is not credited

    This answer choice is pretty tempting, but it misdescribes the author's analogy. The author doesn't argue that because real estate and websites share a few terms, websites should be considered real estate. The author argues that real estate and websites will continue to exist as separate entities, but real estate laws can be extended "to protect against encroachments on property in cyberspace." Moreover, the author wouldn't need to provide evidence that "cyberspace is widely considered to be real estate" to argue that real estate laws can be applied to websites. The author would just have to convincingly argue that real estate and websites are similar enough — regardless of what people think about them — that the same laws can work for both areas.

  2. B
    has a premise that Remaining source text redacted.
    Why choice B is not credited

    This doesn't match our anticipation that the correct answer will refer to the relevant differences between real estate and websites. So, we can cross it off without thinking about it too deeply.

    Besides, this answer choice refers to "circular reasoning." Circular reasoning occurs when the conclusion merely restates a premise. Arguments that rely on circular reasoning typically have this pattern on the LSAT: "X is true. We know this because, even when X doesn't appear to be true, X still must be true because X is always true."

    This argument doesn't rely on circular reasoning. The author never establishes the claim that "it is reasonable to extend that law to protect against encroachments on property in cyberspace" as a premise.

  3. C
    itself provides significant evidence Remaining source text redacted.
    Why choice C is not credited

    This doesn't match our anticipation that the correct answer will refer to the relevant differences between real estate and websites. So, we can eliminate this without a second thought.

    Besides, it's not a flaw to provide "significant evidence against" your conclusion. The author cites that most lawyers think copyright law should protect websites. That's pretty good evidence against the author's conclusion, but that's OK. If the author provided even better evidence that most lawyers are wrong, the author's conclusion could still be persuasive. The author's issue is that they didn't provide adequate evidence to prove their conclusion.

  4. D
    fails to provide evidence Remaining source text redacted.
    Why choice D matches the stem

    Here we go! This matches our anticipation that the correct answer would highlight the relevant differences between real estate and websites. If "the similarities that constitute the analogy are anything but merely verbal," then real estate and websites don't really have much in common. If those two areas don't have much in common, it's not reasonable to extend real estate laws to websites. So, it is definitely a flaw that the author didn't provide evidence that their analogy was based on anything other than verbal similarities. We can justifiably select (D) and advance to the following question.

  5. E
    defends a view solely Remaining source text redacted.
    Why choice E is not credited

    This doesn't match our anticipation that the correct answer will refer to the relevant differences between real estate and websites. So, we can toss this away without spending much time mulling it over.

    Besides, the author doesn't rely on experts to make this conclusion. In fact, if it's fair to call most lawyers "experts," the author argues against the expert view!

Question analytics

Based on historical answer selection rates for this question.

Answer choice distribution

  1. A 20%
  2. B 4%
  3. C 4%
  4. D Credited 70%
  5. E 1%

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