Logical ReasoningDifficulty: Medium

PT119 S2 Q18 Explanation

Many physicists claim that quantum

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

TopicsParallel

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Stimulus

Many physicists claim that quantum mechanics may ultimately be able to explain all fundamental phenomena, and that, therefore, physical theory will soon be complete. However, every theory in the history of physics that was thought to be final eventually had to be rejected for failure to explain expect that quantum mechanics will not be the final theory.

What this question is testing

Parallel

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.

Which one of the following arguments is most similar in its reasoning to

Answer choices

  1. No Temporal Comparison0% picked this

    Only a few species of plants now grow in very dry climates; therefore, few species of animals can

    This argument makes a move from "since few live in place X, few can survive in place X". That has nothing to do with, "since X was true for past cases, X will probably be true in this case".

  2. No Temporal Comparison5% picked this

    Four companies have marketed a new food processing product; therefore, a fifth company will not be able to

    This argument makes a move from "since other things are doing X, this thing will not do X". That has nothing to do with, "since X was true for past cases, X will probably be true in this case".

  3. Correct71% picked this

    Your sister is a very good chess player but she has never won a chess tournament; therefore, she will

    Why this is right

    This argument makes a temporal move from "since she has never won before, she will not win this time". That matches up with, "since X was true for past cases, X will probably be true in this case". Since "not-winning tournament" was true for past chess tournaments, "not-winning tournament" will be true for this chess tournament.

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

  4. Wrong Temporal Comparison2% picked this

    A rare virus infected a group of people a decade ago; therefore, it will not reinfect

    This argument makes a temporal move from "since this thing did X a decade ago, this same thing will not do X now." We wanted a temporal move from "since X was true for past cases, X probably will be true in this similar, but different case".

  5. Wrong Temporal Comparison22% picked this

    Each team member has failed to live up to people’s expectations; therefore, the team will not live

    This argument makes a Part to Whole move from "since each member of the team was X in the past, the team itself will be X (in the future)." This would introduce a flaw that wasn't present in the original argument, so it's definitely not the best available answer choice.

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