PrepTest 130

Incorrect. Considering Marsha starts her statement off with, "But," it's unlikely that her claim is meant to "concur" with Elena's argument.

Incorrect. Marsha's statements don't lead to an unstated conclusion supporting a non-democratic government. Her comments are meant to show that Elena's criteria for defining the best government would lead to multiple conclusions, all but one of which conflicts with her actual conclusion, and so that criteria must be wrong.

Correct. Argument or Facts:
Argument/Facts

Valid or Flawed:
Flawed/NA

Question Type:
Argument Structure

Stimulus Summary:
E: Best government = government that fosters the belief people have a say. Thus, democracy is best.

M: Other types of government do that, too.

Answer Anticipation:
Elena defines what a best government is before concluding that a specific type of government meets that definition and thus is best.

Marsha rebuts this ("But"), and she does so with the statement in question. As such, we need to define how that rebuttal works.

Here, Marsha points out that types of government other than the one Elena says fits the definition of the best government also satisfy that criteria. If other forms of government meet that criteria, then they would have an equal claim to the title of best form of government.

So Marsha uses Elena's premise and shows that it would lead to other conclusions that are incompatible with the one that Elena reaches. Let's find an answer reflecting that.

Answer Explanation:
Marsha shows that Elena's own criteria would lead to the conclusion that other forms of government have just as much a claim to being the best as democracy. That conflicts with Elena's conclusion, so this answer correctly describes how Marsha's statement is used.

Key Takeaway:
Certain question types have a lot of conceptual overlap. Here, Marsha's rebuttal followed a common method of reasoning—pointing out that Elena's logic leads to a contradictory or absurd conclusion. Seeing that and knowing this common reasoning method helped us to frame our understanding in this Argument Structure question.

The concepts across the LSAT aren't siloed—use your knowledge of all question types in any question where they're relevant!

Incorrect. Marsha doesn't talk about what people seek, so this answer is out of scope of her argument.

Incorrect. Marsha doesn't believe that Elena's argument supports her conclusion, but that doesn't mean that she believes Elena's conclusion is wrong. Marsha could believe democracy is the best form of government for other reasons.