Logical ReasoningDifficulty: Hard

PT114 S1 Q19 Explanation

Essayist: Only happiness is intrinsically

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

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Stimulus

Essayist: Only happiness is intrinsically valuable; other things are valuable only insofar as they contribute to happiness. Some philosophers argue that the fact that we do not approve of a bad person’s being happy shows that we value happiness only when it is deserved. This supposedly shows that we find something besides determined by the amount of happiness they bring to others. Therefore, _______.

What this question is testing

Most Supported

Your task

Break the argument into its conclusion and evidence, then do exactly what the question stem asks with that structure.

Common trap

Answers that sound relevant to the topic but don't connect to the argument's actual reasoning.

Winning move

Predict what a right answer must do, then test each choice against the conclusion-evidence 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
19.

Which one of the following most logically completes the final sentence of

Answer choices

  1. Too Strong: incoherent8% picked this

    the notion that people can be deserving of happiness is

    The author wasn't building any momentum to giving up on the concept of "deserving happiness". She literally just introduced a principle defining how we determine how much happiness is deserved.

  2. Unknown Comparison: belief vs. reality6% picked this

    people do not actually value happiness as much as they think

    Nothing in the paragraph deals with a mismatch between how much people think they value happiness vs. how much they really do.

  3. Correct66% picked this

    the judgment that a person deserves to be happy is itself to be understood in

    Why this is right

    Yes, our author is motivated to rebut these philosophers in order to defend her original claim that happiness is the only intrinsic value. They're like, "Then why do we not like happiness when it isn't deserved? Doesn't that show that we value something besides happiness?" And the final line after "But" is saying, "We calculate how much happiness one deserves in terms of how much happiness they've caused. So no, it doesn't show we value something else." We are judging bad people of not deserving happiness based on how much happiness they have / haven't brought to others, so I was right when I said at the beginning that we measure all things by happiness.

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

  4. Too Strong: assured of happiness14% picked this

    the only way to be assured of happiness is to bring happiness to those who have done

    Nothing in this paragraph was talking about something that would guarantee happiness.

  5. Too Strong: cannot be very happy7% picked this

    a truly bad person cannot actually be

    We were never saying that a bad person can't be happy; we were only saying we don't think they deserve to be happy and we don't approve of their actual happiness.

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