Logical Reasoning

PT105 · S4 · Q15 Ideally, scientific laws should display

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

  • Save & drill this skill — build targeted practice sets from questions like this one

  • Video walkthroughs — watch every question solved step by step

  • 81 official LSATs — as questions, timed sections & full-length tests

Start practicing free

Ideally, scientific laws should display the virtues of precision and generality, as do the laws of physics.

Statements

Ideally social science would achieve what all scientific laws hope to achieve: precision and generality.

However ...

Laws of social science are often imprecise, and Most laws in social science can only be generalized to certain social systems.

Evaluate / Goal

This feels like a Reconcile the Pivot type of paragraph to me, inclining me to expect a safely worded synthesis of what came before the However with what came after.

So something like, .

Wrong answers will probably go over the top and say stuff like "social science isn't a real science".

15.

Which one of the following statements is most strongly supported by the information above?

  1. Correct

    All else being equal, a

    Why this is right

    Wow, a rare breed of correct answer that derives its support from only one claim. This answer is just supported by the very first sentence. Since ideal scientific laws should display precision and generality, we can say "all else being equal, a precise, general scientific law is the best." Something that achieves an ideal is to be preferred over something that does not achieve an ideal.

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

    53% picked this

  2. The social sciences would benefit

    Too Strong

    There's no wording in this answer that is particularly strong, but the suggestion for social sciences such as Sociology to stop focusing on nebulous things like class and power and start focusing on precise things like covalent bonds or gravity is kind of silly. At that point, Sociology would cease doing sociology and would just be doing chemistry or physics. It's okay that sociology (and other social sciences) aren't ideal. The author can just be descriptively acknowledging that without implying that we should get rid of these less-than-ideal social science fields altogether.

    2% picked this

  3. Terms such as "class" should

    Out of Scope: should

    The paragraph provides wording that almost seems like counter-support for this. The author is acknowledging the necessarily imprecise subject matter of social scientists: because of the nature of their subject matter, laws of social science often have to use imprecise terms. So this paragraph doesn't support the idea that they should do something impossible.

    6% picked this

  4. Social scientists should make an

    Out of Scope: should

    This is essentially the same answer as (B). The paragraph described how social science was less than ideal because it can't really attain the precision or generality we'd wish for. But the author isn't lamenting this and saying we should change it. She's just describing it. If she were really saying that these are things we should fix about social science, then we'd have to no way to pick between "fix precision" in (C) vs. "fix generality" in (D).

    4% picked this

  5. The laws of social science

    Too Strong: invariably

    Called it! I knew they'd go overboard and say, "See? Social science isn't a real science". Beyond the fact that we shouldn't think "less-than-ideal scientific laws" means the same thing as "not truly scientific", there were quantifiers that in the 2nd and 3rd sentences: often have to be imprecise typically can only be generalized to certain systems So we definitely can't support the idea that social science laws are invariably not scientific.

    35% picked this

Continue the review in LSAT Lab

Save this question, watch the video walkthrough, and drill similar questions in your LSAT Lab account.

Save and practice this skill
LSAT Lab

Turn this review into a targeted study plan.

Save this question, drill more like it, watch the video walkthrough, and track your progress in your LSAT Lab account.

Start practicing free