Logical Reasoning

PT144 · S3 · Q23 Columnist: Although most people

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

  • Save & drill this skill build targeted practice sets from questions like this one

  • Video walkthroughs watch every question solved step by step

  • 81 official LSATs as questions, timed sections & full-length tests

Columnist: Although most people favor the bill and the bill does not violate anyone’s basic human rights, it will not be passed for many years, if at all; nor will any similar bill.

Conclusion

This country is not a well-functioning democracy.

Evidence

This bill (or any similar bill) that most people favor and that does not violate anyone's human rights will not pass into law for many years. The people who would be adversely affected by the bill are very influential.

Evaluate

We know we want an answer that helps us to prove "not a well-functioning democracy" (either by telling us it's not a democracy at all or by convincing us that it's not well-functioning)

The basis we have for this rule is a bill that - most people favor - does not violate anyone's basic human rights - will not be passed (nor anything similar) for many years - would adversely affect influential people

A correct answer doesn't need to use all those blips. If we wrote a rule that says , then that would be a correct answer. It would successfully prove the conclusion.

Goal

We need an answer to give us a rule that clearly applies to the bill we've learned about and outputs for us the language of "not a well functioning democracy".

23.

Which one of the following principles, if valid, most helps to justify the columnist's reasoning?

  1. In a well-functioning democracy, any

    Weak Premise Match

    This is so close, but do we know if our bill would benefit most people? No. We only know that most people favor the bill. Because of that, we can't trigger the rule. For what it's worth, the rule looks like this: Well functioning democracy and bill will pass bill benefits most people → into law w/in and a few years bill doesn't violate any BHR's

    15% picked this

  2. If a democracy is well

    Weak Premise Match

    Here is what this rule looks like: Well functioning Democracy and bill will bill opposed by influential → eventually but favored by most pass Do we know that this bill is "opposed by influential people" and "favored by most people"? We know the 2nd one explicitly. But we were never told about who opposes this bill, just that influential people would be adversely affected. It's a baby step of common sense from one to the next, but Principle questions are pretty good at directly matching what we know from the evidence. The other problem with this answer is that in order to trigger the contrapositive and thus conclude that this apparently isn't a well-functioning democracy, we would need to know that this bill will not eventually pass. Do we know that this bill will never pass? No, we only know it will definitely not be passed for many years. Since we don't know whether the bill will eventually (at some point in eternity) pass, we can't trigger the contrapositive of this rule and get to → ~Well Functioning Democracy

    30% picked this

  3. In a well-functioning democracy, a

    Out of Scope

    Out of Scope: influential opponents Reversal (if anything) Here is what this rule looks like: Well functioning Dem Bill favored by most and → will not pass within opponents of bill a few years include very influential The conversational way to disqualify this is to think, "I have no idea whether the bill's opponents are influential or not". The author never talked about anyone who opposes it. She merely talked about influential people who would be adversely affected by it. We'd have to add our own assumption that "if adversely affected → oppose it". That's reasonable but definitely a leap. I'm in favor of raising my taxes so that uninsured people have healthcare. I'm in favor of raising my taxes so that we can tackle climate change. I am adversely affected by those bills but still support them. We know that this bill that is favored by most will not pass within a few years. So we know that the outcome is true. That doesn't do anything for us. We can't read backwards to the left side. In order for this rule to prove that we're not in a well-functioning democracy, we'd need to know that "the bill WILL pass within a few years, even though it's opposed by very influential people". In a well-functioning democracy, that would never be the case. It would only pass if its opponents were not-influential. But since don't know "the bill will pass within a few years, even though the opponents are very influential", this rule gives us no way to prove we're NOT in a well functioning democracy.

    6% picked this

  4. Any bill passed into law

    Can't Trigger Rule

    Well functioning Dem bill favored by most and → and Bill passed into law bill doesn't violate basic human rights We have no way to trigger either side of this rule. We don't know if we're in a well functioning democracy, nor has the bill passed into law, so we can't trigger the sufficient condition. And the bill we know about is favored by most and consistent with basic human rights, so we can't trigger the contrapositive. Thus, this rule is useless to us.

    6% picked this

  5. Correct

    A bill that most people

    Why this is right

    Here's what this rule looks like: Well functioning Democracy and bill passes Bill favored by most → promptly and into law Bill not violate BHR We can trigger the contrapositive, since we know this bill won't be passed promptly. If this bill isn't going to pass promptly into law, then we know that at least one of these three things is true: 1. not well functioning Democracy 2. not favored by most people 3. does violate BHR Since we know for a fact that it is favored by most, that part can't be true. Since we know for a fact that is does not violate BHR, that part can't be true. Thus, it must be that it's not a well functioning Democracy. Given: W → X or Y or Z If we know W is true, and we know Y and Z aren't true, then it proves that X is true.

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

    43% picked this

Continue the review in LSAT Lab

Save this question, watch the video walkthrough, and drill similar questions in your LSAT Lab account.

LSAT Lab

Turn this review into a targeted study plan.

Save this question, drill more like it, watch the video walkthrough, and track your progress in your LSAT Lab account.

Start practicing free