Logical ReasoningDifficulty: Medium

PT103 S3 Q10 Explanation

Tires may be either underinflated,

A free, expert breakdown of this official LSAT Logical Reasoning question.

TopicsFlaw

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Stimulus

Tires may be either underinflated, overinflated, or neither. We are pretty safe in assuming that underinflation or overinflation of tires harms their tread. After all, no one has been do not harm tire tread.

What this question is testing

Flaw

Your task

Describe the reasoning error the argument actually commits.

Common trap

Answers that name a real logical flaw the argument doesn't actually make.

Winning move

Articulate the gap in the reasoning yourself, then match it to the choice that describes that gap.

Reading along? Open the full official question in LawHub — we show a fragment here and keep the reasoning in our own words.

The question
10.

Which one of the following most accurately describes a flaw in the

Answer choices

  1. Not Circular6% picked this

    The argument assumes what it is attempting

    This answer refers to one of the other 10 Famous Flaws, Circular Reasoning, in which the evidence restates the conclusion or assumes the truth of the conclusion. These answers are almost always wrong. The author's premise does not require that under/over-inflating harms tire tread. This answer would refer to an argument like this: "Green is the best flavor of Skittles. After all, if everyone ranked their favorite Skittles, they would but green above the others." We wouldn't accept that premise. We'd say, hey that's not true. You're only thinking everyone would put green above the other colors because you're assuming that green is the best.

  2. Not an Objection11% picked this

    The argument overlooks that what is not in principle susceptible to proof

    Any time a flaw answer begins with fails to consider / overlooks the possibility, we can treat the idea that follows like a Weaken answer choice. Would it hurt the author if we said, "Yo, author --- some things are not, in principle susceptible to proof, but they're still false." Close! We'd love to object, "Some things that have not yet been proven are still true", because we're trying to argue that "even though no one has proven that over/under-inflation doesn't harm tread, it's still possibly true that it doesn't harm tread." But this is talking about something that isn't in principle susceptible to proof. Does that feel applicable to the question of whether over/under-inflation harms tread? Is that a question that isn't in principle susceptible to proof? No, that seems like a very real-world thing that could be measured and tested scientifically. So this potential objection doesn't seem applicable to the argument because we're only discussing a situation that is susceptible to proof.

  3. Not Necessary4% picked this

    The argument fails to specify how it is that underinflation or overinflation

    The phrase fails to establish / fails to specify is akin to takes for granted / presumes. They all introduce Necessary Assumptions. If we argued, "That pie is an apple pie. Thus, Tracy would love it" We could say the argument is flawed because it (A) fails to specify whether Tracy loves apple pie or (A) takes for granted that Tracy loves apple pie Our author doesn't need to show how under/over-inflation harms tire tread. It would definitely strengthen his argument to do so, but he doesn't need to. We could say, "Yes, he did fail to specify how it would harm tread, but that's not why we're mad at the author. We're mad because he thinks that the fact that no has shown they don't harm tread proves that they do harm tread. That's the reasoning move, and we're supposed to be critiquing that move."

  4. Correct78% picked this

    The argument rejects the possibility that what has not been proven

    Why this is right

    This is alluding to the Unproven vs. Proven False move. It hasn't been proven that "over/under-inflation does not harm tread". No one has been able to show this. But author fails to consider that this claim is could be nevertheless true. No one has proven that intelligent aliens live elsewhere in the universe, but it could still be true that there are intelligent aliens elsewhere in the universe.

    Skill tested: Flaw · how this choice captures the argument's function is the move to repeat next time.

  5. Never a Flaw0% picked this

    The argument fails to precisely define the terms “underinflation” and

    Flaw answers are always wrong when they're complaining that we lack a specific value, a specific measurement, a specific definition, or the specific names of people cited. We're here to complain about bad reasoning moves, not about missing details. Like (C), we would say, "This answer is true, but it's not the reason we should be mad at this reasoning".

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