Raymond Burr played the role of

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

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Stimulus

Raymond Burr played the role of Perry Mason on television. Burr’s death in 1993 prompted a prominent lawyer to say, “Although not a lawyer, Mr. Burr strove for such authenticity that we feel as if we lost one of our own.” This comment from a prestigious attorney provides appalling evidence professionals are losing their ability to distinguish fiction from reality.

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

The reasoning in the argument is flawed because

Answer choices

Wrong Flaw: Not Sampling12% picked this
takes the views of one lawyer to represent the views of
The author's conclusion is only saying, "Some (at least one) legal professionals", so the author's conclusion can be proven entirely by one example of a legal professional who has lost ability to distinguish truth from fiction. The author definitely does not conclude anything about all lawyers.
12%
Wrong Flaw: not Ad Hominem3% picked this
criticizes the lawyer rather than the
The author is directly implicating the lawyer's statement, since she says "This comment from a prestigious attorney provides evidence that some lawyers can't tell fiction from reality." It would be more accurate to say the author infers something about the lawyer based on the lawyer's statement, and there's nothing wrong with doing so.
3%
Trap2% picked this
presumes that the lawyer is qualified to evaluate the performance of
Not Assumed Out of Scope: Qualified to Judge Acting This author does not need to assume that the lawyer is qualified to evaluate the performance of an actor. Our author is never evaluating or discussing how good or bad Burr's acting was. She is just saying she's stunned that this prominent lawyer doesn't realize that Burr was just an actor playing a TV lawyer.
2%
Not an Objection1% picked this
focuses on a famous actor’s portrayal of a lawyer rather than on the usual way in which lawyers
It's true that the author focused on Raymond Burr's famous portrayal of a lawyer rather than on the usual way in which lawyers are portrayed on TV, but so what? Why is that a problem with the author's logic? Our problem with the author's logic is that she sounds like she didn't listen to the prestigious attorney's statement carefully enough, since her interpretation of the lawyer's statement is contradicted by the statement itself.
1%
Correct81% picked this
ignores the part of the lawyer’s remark that indicates an awareness of the difference between
Why this is right
This calls out our author's Bad Listening. The quote from the lawyer clearly demonstrates an awareness of the difference between reality and fiction, because the lawyer says: - although not a lawyer - we feel as if we lost one of our own
Skill tested: Flaw · how this choice captures the argument's function is the move to repeat next time.
81%

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