Logical ReasoningDifficulty: Hard

PT117 S4 Q18 Explanation

Philosopher: The rational pursuit of

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

TopicsMust be False

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Stimulus

Philosopher: The rational pursuit of happiness is quite different from always doing what one most strongly desires to do. This is because the rational pursuit of happiness must include consideration of long-term consequences, whereas our desires are usually focused on the short term. Moreover, desires are sometimes compulsions, and while ordinary desires a person to pursue goals that offer no happiness even when reached.

What this question is testing

Must be False

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
18.

If all of the philosopher’s statements are true, each of the following could

Answer choices

  1. Out of Scope: most9% picked this

    The majority of people do not

    Could we prove that "most people do have compulsions?" No, the paragraph never provided any fact about most people.

  2. Correct68% picked this

    Attaining the goal of any desire results in

    Why this is right

    Can we prove that "sometimes the attainment of a desire does not result in momentary happiness"? Sure! Desires are sometimes compulsions, and compulsions "offer no happiness even when the goal is reached". So the goal of desires sometimes offers no happiness even when attained.

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

  3. Out of Scope: most3% picked this

    Most people do not pursue happiness

    Could we prove that "most people do pursue happiness rationally?" No, the paragraph never provided any fact about most people.

  4. Out of Scope: most5% picked this

    Most people want more than their own

    Could we prove that "most people do not want more than their own personal happiness / most people only desire their own personal happiness"? No, the paragraph never provided any fact about most people.

  5. Compatible15% picked this

    All actions have long-term

    Can we prove that "at least one action does not have a long-term consequence"? Nope. We have no evidence that some actions only have short-term consequences. The closest thing resembling that was saying that our desires are usually focused on the short-term consequences of actions (but that doesn't imply those actions don't have long-term consequences, only that we're ignoring the long-term consequences).

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