Logical ReasoningDifficulty: Hard

PT131 S2 Q15 Explanation

Bowers: A few theorists

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

TopicsFlaw

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Stimulus

Bowers: A few theorists hold the extreme view that society could flourish in a condition of anarchy, the absence of government. Some of these theorists have even produced interesting arguments to support that position. One writer, for example, contends that anarchy is laissez-faire capitalism taken to its logical extreme. But these theorists' Any social philosophy that countenances chaos, i.e., anarchy, accordingly deserves no further attention.

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
15.

The reasoning in Bowers's argument is most vulnerable to criticism on the

Answer choices

  1. Correct55% picked this

    the meaning of a key term shifts illicitly during the course

    Why this is right

    Yes, the key term of "anarchy" shifted from a technical meaning of "no government" to a conversational meaning of "chaos".

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

  2. Not Required21% picked this

    the argument fails to show that laissez-faire capitalism deserves to be rejected as

    LSAT has a proud tradition of including little examples or asides that give them ammunition for trap answers. The writer who is brought up in the 3rd sentence is very tangential to the argument. He happens to have made "an interesting argument" for the position that the author is trying to shoot down (the 1st sentence). The author is trying to say that anarchy should be rejected as a social philosophy, not laissez-faire capitalism. Just because this writer in the 3rd sentence tried to connect an extreme form of laissez-faire capitalism to anarchy doesn't mean we should go forward treating those two terms interchangeably.

  3. Bad Premise Match3% picked this

    the truth or falsity of a view is not determined by the number of people who

    The author isn't rejecting anarchy based on the number of people who believe it could allow society to flourish. She's rejecting anarchy because she's equating it with chaos, which would therefore render it an unacceptable social philosophy.

  4. Too Strong10% picked this

    the argument presumes, without providing justification, that any peaceful society

    The author definitely never committed herself to the crazy strong claim that "every single peaceful society will flourish".

  5. Too Strong: "merely" Bad Premise Match11% picked this

    it is unreasonable to reject a view merely because it can be

    When Flaw answers say that an author "concludes X merely/simply on the grounds that Y", they are accusing Y of being the only premise. Was the author's only reason for rejecting anarchy that "anarchy is an extreme view"? No, in fact it's not even clear that the extremity of the view is one of the reasons for rejecting. She's rejecting anarchy because she's equating it with chaos, which would therefore render it an unacceptable social philosophy.

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