Logical Reasoning

PT141 · S4 · Q14 Environmentalist: Pollution from gasoline

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Environmentalist: Pollution from gasoline burned by cars contributes to serious environmental problems.

Statements

causal (X contributes to Y)

Pollution from gas burned by cars contributes to big environmental problems.

pivots (But, however)

The cost of these problems isn't reflected in prices of gas.

causal (X, hence Y / as a result)

The fact that problems aren't reflected in prices leads to lots of consumers not taking that into account when deciding how much to drive.

Heavier taxes on gas would reflect the cost and lead to consumers polluting less.

Evaluate

In normal life, if someone were to ask us, "What should we conclude from all this?", we would probably just say

But in LSAT life, who knows what angle they might take. It could be something boring but technically true like, .

Goal

Let's just look for the most provable answer, something safely-worded that can be supported by combining two or more claims.

14.

The environmentalist's statements, if true, most strongly support which one of the following?

  1. The cost of pollution from

    Too Strong: unless / should

    We don't have any way to support the extreme notion that "the only reason you should ever reflect the cost of pollution in the price of gasoline is X", which is what this answer is saying.

    2% picked this

  2. Heavier taxes on gasoline would

    Out of Scope: awareness

    The only causal effect of heavier gas taxes that we know of is "consumers would pollute less". We don't know if their awareness of environmental problems would change at all. It might simply be that they see gas is $7 / gallon, they decide to drive less than they used to, and they thereby pollute less.

    14% picked this

  3. Correct

    Consumers would purchase less gasoline,

    Why this is right

    This is really just fleshing out the meaning of "as a result consumers would pollute less". In the world where we raise heavier taxes on gasoline until the price of gas fully reflects the cost of the environmental problems caused by pollution from cars, we know that "consumers would pollute less". Well, what do we think they mean by 'pollute less'? Consumers would stop setting garbage on fire in their backyard? They would stop throwing litter into the local river? No, it's implied that they would be polluting less by buying less gas, now that it's much more expensive to do so. This is definitely a Most Supported, not a Must Be True answer, but even though it has some loose ends, it effectively captures an idea that was implied by the paragraph.

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

    73% picked this

  4. The only cost considered by

    Too Strong: the only

    We can certainly derive that the cost of gasoline is "one cost considered by most consumers", and maybe even that it's "the most significant cost considered" (since we know that raising the cost of gas can influence how much people buy). But we can't support the extreme claim that it is the only cost that most consumers ever consider when deciding how much to drive (for example, if they're considering whether to drive to a vacation spot vs. fly there, they probably consider the cost of flying as well).

    7% picked this

  5. Pollution from gasoline burned by

    Too Strong: only if

    Not only is this way too strong, since the paragraph doesn't say "the only way to reduce pollution is to raise gas taxes". It's also somewhat contradicted by the passage. In the scenario where we tax gas prices and people are paying $7 / gallon at the pump, they don't necessarily know that the price has been raised to combat the polluting effects of gas usage. They might just think the higher price is due to greed from their gas station, or from oil producing countries, or from their government. Regardless of how they interpret the higher price, it will still affect their consumer behavior. This answer is saying the only way it affects their behavior is if they mull over the cost of gas-related pollution.

    4% picked this

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