PrepTest 113

[lcid:3550] Prep Test 113 LSAT — Logical Reasoning — S3 Logical reasoning

Question prompt

If something would have 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

Question Type

Illustration Questions / Strengthen with Sufficient Premise Questions / Sufficient & Necessary Questions

Stimulus Summary

Something would be justifiably regretted → Shouldn’t desire that thing
Therefore - (Many) Forgone pleasure → Shouldn’t desire that thing

Answer Anticipation

This argument features a mish-mash of language that falls into that philosophical world where having a handle on the abstract meaning of what it’s saying could easily take up a lot of mental bandwidth. Luckily, we don’t need to worry about the meaning - just the logic!
Since this argument has a conditional premise and conclusion, we only need to bridge the gap between those two. They both have the same necessary condition - that you shouldn’t desire something. However, the sufficient conditions aren’t the same, so we’ll need to link the ideas found there - something being justifiably regretted, and forgone pleasures.
However, since direction matters for conditionals, the answers are likely to include the reversal of the correct answer, so we need to find an answer that has the right directionality to it. Since we’re trying to get something that justified the conclusion, we want to make sure that the terms show up in the right places to match that. Here, that means we want Forgone pleasures as a sufficient condition, so we are looking for (including the contrapositive):
Forgone pleasure → Something would be justifiably regretted
~Something would be justifiably regretted → ~Forgone pleasure
To see why this direction, consider the argument with it in place:
Forgone pleasure → Something would be justifiably regretted
Something would be justifiably regretted → Shouldn’t desire that thing
Therefore - Forgone pleasure → Shouldn’t desire that thing
Also note that the conclusion isn’t really a conditional, as it talks about only “many” forgone pleasures. However, structuring our approach this way lets us find the connection we’re looking for. And noting that the conclusion is a many statement lets us pick an answer that gives us that connection but matches this logical force.

Answer choices

  1. A
    One should never regret Remaining source text redacted.
    Why choice A is not credited
    This answer hurts the argument. If you shouldn’t regret your pleasures, then forgone pleasures (a subset of pleasures) shouldn’t be regretted, and the conditional doesn’t apply to them.
  2. B
    Forgone pleasures that were Remaining source text redacted.
    Why choice B is not credited
    This answer throws together several terms in the stimulus, but there are some shifts that invalidate it. For example, the stimulus is about whether a pleasure should have been desired, not whether it was or wasn’t actually desired.
  3. C
    Everything that one desires Remaining source text redacted.
    Why choice C is not credited
    The stimulus isn’t about regret over not having something, but regret over doing something regrettable.
  4. D
    Many forgone pleasures would Remaining source text redacted.
    Why choice D matches the stem
    This answer makes the connection between the premise and conclusion and matches the logical force of the conclusion, making it correct. If many forgone pleasures would have been justifiably regretted, then the premise allows the conclusion that those pleasures shouldn’t have been desired in the first place. Since that’s the conclusion, this answer is correct.
  5. E
    Nothing that one should Remaining source text redacted.
    Why choice E is not credited
    This answer connects pleasure and desire, which is already connected in the conclusion, so it doesn’t add to the argument.

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