PrepTest 114

Correct. Argument or Facts:
Argument/Argument

Valid or Flawed:
Flawed/Flawed

Question Type:
Methods of Reasoning

Stimulus Summary:
PB: ASL is spoken natively by many North Americans, so it's not a foreign language and thus shouldn't count as one for the university's requirements.

PS: Your logic applies to Spanish and French, too, but it'd be ridiculous to say students can't count those as foreign languages (so your argument is ridiculous).

Answer Anticipation:
If you have learned your common Methods of Reasoning, you should be able to identify one of them here—a reduction to the absurd. When a rebuttal uses the original argument's own logic against itself to show that it leads to a ridiculous conclusion, this method of reasoning is being employed.

Answer Explanation:
This answer describes a reduction to the absurd. Sedley applies the reasoning used to reach Beckstein's conclusion to comparable situations (Spanish/French), showing that the outcome there would be undesirable to suggest that the reasoning must be wrong. This answer is therefore correct.

Key Takeaway:
There are common methods of reasoning employed on the LSAT. While they're most relevant in Methods of Reasoning questions, they show up elsewhere and tend to follow patterns that can be helpful to know to get to correct answers faster. In this specific case, we saw a common method—the reduction to the absurd. When a rebuttal uses the initial speaker's own logic against them, this method of reasoning is present.

Incorrect. Sedley doesn't argue that the evidence used by Beckstein contradicts the conclusion, but rather that the logic underlying his argument would lead to an absurd conclusion in a different situation. This answer would be correct if Beckstein's logic suggested that ASL should count as a foreign language, not that it's insufficient to reach that conclusion.

Incorrect. Sedley never questions Beckstein's expertise.

Incorrect. The only fact offered by Beckstein is that many North Americans natively speak ASL and that doesn't receive (or require) an explanation.

Incorrect. Sedley doesn't agree with Beckstein's conclusion that ASL shouldn't count as a foreign language, and she doesn't reject the evidence used to support it (that many North Americans natively speak it), so this answer is doubly wrong.