Logical ReasoningDifficulty: Hard

PT132 S2 Q17 Explanation

One should never sacrifice

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

TopicsSufficient Assumption

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Stimulus

One should never sacrifice one's health in order to acquire money, for without not obtainable.

What this question is testing

Sufficient Assumption

Conclusion

The author concludes: don't trade away your health to get money.

Evidence

The reason given: without health, happiness is unobtainable.

Evaluate

Notice the gap. The premise is about health and happiness. The conclusion is about money — but happiness isn't mentioned in the conclusion at all. We need a rule that ties them together.

Think of it like this. The author is implicitly saying: happiness matters more than money. Specifically, we shouldn't pursue money in ways that destroy happiness. Add that rule, and the chain closes: sacrificing health makes happiness unobtainable -> shouldn't acquire money that way.

Goal

An answer establishing that money should only be acquired in ways that don't make happiness unobtainable.

Reading along? Open the full official question in LawHub — we show a fragment here and keep the reasoning in our own words.

The question
17.

The conclusion of the argument follows logically if which one of the

Answer choices

  1. Correct62% picked this

    Money should be acquired only if its acquisition will not make

    Why this is right

    This is the bridge. It says money should be acquired only if doing so doesn't make happiness unobtainable. The contrapositive: if acquiring money makes happiness unobtainable, don't acquire it. The premise tells us sacrificing health makes happiness unobtainable. So sacrificing health to acquire money would make happiness unobtainable, meaning by this principle, you shouldn't. Conclusion guaranteed.

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

  2. Reversal2% picked this

    In order to be happy one must have either money

    This says happiness requires either money or health. The premise actually says happiness requires health. This answer weakens the premise (allowing happiness without health if you have money) rather than bridging the gap to the conclusion. It also doesn't connect "acquiring money" to "shouldn't."

  3. Too Strong6% picked this

    Health should be valued only as a precondition

    This says health should be valued only as a precondition for happiness. That's a strong claim about how to value health, but it doesn't establish a rule against acquiring money in ways that destroy happiness. The argument needs the latter, not a claim about why health matters.

  4. Out of Scope7% picked this

    Being wealthy is, under certain conditions, conducive

    This says wealth is sometimes conducive to unhappiness. The argument doesn't need this — it needs a normative rule connecting "acquiring money" to "shouldn't" when happiness is at stake. A descriptive claim that money can cause unhappiness doesn't guarantee the conclusion.

  5. Out of Scope24% picked this

    Health is more conducive to happiness than

    This compares health and wealth as inputs to happiness. The argument doesn't need a comparison; it needs a rule that prohibits acquiring money when doing so makes happiness unobtainable. Even if health is "more conducive" than wealth, that doesn't guarantee you should never trade health for money.

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