PrepTest 113

[lcid:3551] Prep Test 113 LSAT — Logical Reasoning — S4 Logical reasoning

Question prompt

Cultural historian: Universal acceptance Remaining source text redacted.
Why the credited answer is right

Credited answer: B

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

Argument or Facts

Argument

Valid or Flawed

Flawed

Question Type

Strengthen with Sufficient Premise Questions

Stimulus Summary

~People believe responsible for actions → ~Feel shame when acting immorally
~Feel shame when acting immorally → General moral decline
Therefore - Believing humans are objects subject to natural forces outside their control → General moral decline

Answer Anticipation

Strengthen with Sufficient Premise questions frequently deal with conditional logic, and we can see quickly that this one does - it includes keywords such as “inevitably,” “if,” and “is bound to,” all of which denote the certainty that defines a conditional statement.
When this is the case, the argument is generally flawed in that it’s missing a step in the conditional chain, or it’s attempting to apply a conditional to a specific case without establishing that the specific case meets the sufficient condition. In this case, since there are multiple conditional premises, we’re likely in the former situation.
Comparing the premises to the conclusion, we can see that the necessary condition of that conclusion shows up in the conditional chain, so let’s “build backwards” from there. We know that the general moral decline of the conclusion is guaranteed by a lack of shame when acting immorally, which itself is guaranteed by people not believing they’re responsible for their actions:
~Believe responsible for actions → ~Feel shame → Moral decline
The sufficient condition of the conclusion, however, is about a specific belief - that humans are “natural objects” subject to forces outside their control. While that can arguably contribute to a feeling that you’re not responsible for your actions, the argument never establishes that it necessarily leads to that belief, so we need to connect the scientific theories from the conclusion to the specific belief that’s the sufficient condition of the chain in the premises:
Believing that humans are natural objects subject to forces outside their control → Belief that people aren’t responsible for their actions

Answer choices

  1. A
    Science does not enable Remaining source text redacted.
    Why choice A is not credited
    This would be more of a necessary premise than a sufficient one since it doesn’t directly tie concepts from the stimulus together. Even then, the argument is about natural forces outside of our control, so even if science let us control some of them, there could still be others.
  2. B
    Human beings who regard Remaining source text redacted.
    Why choice B matches the stem
    This answer connects the sufficient condition of the conclusion to the sufficient condition of the chain established in the premise, matching our anticipation. The scientific theories of the conclusion regard humans as natural objects. If this means they will believe they’re not responsible for their actions, then they won’t feel shame for acting badly, and there will be a general moral decline, justifying the conclusion.
  3. C
    People who have a Remaining source text redacted.
    Why choice C is not credited
    This answer is the contrapositive of the first premise, so it doesn’t add anything to the argument.
  4. D
    Some scientific theories hold Remaining source text redacted.
    Why choice D is not credited
    This is another answer that’s more of a necessary premise. Even then, the argument requires that some scientific theories, if accepted, lead to the belief that people aren’t responsible for their actions - the theories themselves don’t need to hold that to be true.
  5. E
    Scientific explanations that regard Remaining source text redacted.
    Why choice E is not credited
    This answer is the negation of the conclusion, so it’s not sufficient to justify that conclusion.

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