Logical Reasoning

PT110 · S2 · Q7 A certain moral system holds

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

A certain moral system holds that performing good actions is praiseworthy only when one overcomes a powerful temptation in order to perform them.

Given That ...

Performing a good action is only praiseworthy if one overcomes a powerful temptation in order to perform it (i.e. if you didn't have to overcome a powerful temptation to perform action A, then you don't deserve praise for performing action A).

How Can It Be That ...

Performing good actions out of habit is sometimes praiseworthy?

Evaluate

The moral principle in the first sentence is saying that an action is only praiseworthy if you had to overcome a temptation in order to perform it.

The surprise is that an action performed out of habit could ever be praiseworthy, which insinuates that actions performed out of habit wouldn't be expected to overlap with actions that involve overcoming a powerful temptation.

But maybe they do overlap! Maybe I have a habit of calling my mom on Sundays, and because I am strongly tempted to not call her but do anyway, it is a good action.

Goal

Find an answer that helps us show how actions performed out of habit could also be actions that overcome a powerful temptation.

7.

Which one of the following, if true, does the most to reconcile the apparent conflict in the moral system described above?

  1. Correct

    People who perform good actions

    Why this is right

    This reconciles "doing X out of habit" with "had to overcome powerful temptation in order to do X". Maybe Sally has a habit of jogging at 530am every morning, which is a good action that she deserves praise for . If we watched her now, it doesn't look like she is overcoming a powerful temptation in order to go jogging. She just gets up, laces up her kicks, grabs her earbuds, and hits the pavement. But ... in order to have this habit of jogging at 530am, for years she had to resist the temptation to go back to sleep when that 5:30 alarm goes off. So even if she now is such a habitual jogger that getting up and jogging doesn't seem like it takes much will power, we can still praise her for "performing the action of 5:30 jogging out of habit" because in order to perform this habitual action, she had to overcome years of temptation.

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

    82% picked this

  2. Most people face strong moral

    Unrelated to Goal

    This answer does nothing to reconcile "doing X out of habit" with "had to overcome powerful temptation in order to do X". It doesn't even mention habits. Thus, it doesn't help us understand how an action done out of habit would be considered praiseworthy.

    3% picked this

  3. People virtually always perform actions

    Unrelated to Goal

    This answer does nothing to reconcile "doing X out of habit" with "had to overcome powerful temptation in order to do X". It doesn't even mention habits. Thus, it doesn't help us understand how an action done out of habit would be considered praiseworthy.

    1% picked this

  4. Since it is difficult to

    Unrelated to Goal

    This answer does nothing to reconcile "doing X out of habit" with "had to overcome powerful temptation in order to do X". It doesn't even mention habits. Thus, it doesn't help us understand how an action done out of habit would be considered praiseworthy.

    2% picked this

  5. It is far more common

    No Impact / Opposite

    This answer isn't doing anything to reconcile "doing X out of habit" with "had to overcome powerful temptation in order to do X". In fact, the answer treats them as two separate cases, whereas we're trying to figure out how they could overlap at the same time (a good action that is both out of habit and against a strong temptation). This answer is dividing them: good actions done out of habit vs. good actions done against strong temptation?

    12% 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