Logical ReasoningDifficulty: Easy

PT150 S2 Q8 ExplanationOne should not confuse a desire for money

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

TopicsRole

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Stimulus

One should not confuse a desire for money with a desire for material possessions. Much of what money can buy—education, travel, even prestige—are not material goods at all. Material goods themselves, moreover, are seldom desired for the experiences or activities they make possible.

What this question is testing

Role

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
8.

The claim that one should not confuse a desire for money with a desire for material possessions plays which one of the following

Answer choices, explained

  1. Wrong Role2% picked this

    It is a generalization from which the argument draws inferences regarding

    The conclusion is an inference that is drawn from the evidence. We're looking for an answer that means "main conclusion", but this answer is saying the first sentence is a generalization from which inferences are drawn. That would mean that conclusions were drawn on the basis of the first sentence, whereas we want to hear that the first sentence is the conclusion.

  2. Correct90% picked this

    It is the overall conclusion of

    Why this is right

    This is what we were looking for. The first sentence was our author's opinion (should) and it was supported by two considerations joined by "moreover". Why should we believe that desiring money is not the same as desiring material possessions? 1. because a lot of what people spend money on isn't material possessions 2. because even when people buy material possessions, it isn't the possession itself they're after.

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

  3. Wrong Role5% picked this

    It is a subsidiary conclusion used by the argument to support

    The first sentence was the Main Conclusion, and there was no subsidiary conclusion. Neither of the two premises offers support for the other. They are each just a separate way of demonstrating how we could desire money without necessarily desiring material possessions.

  4. Opposite: counterexamples2% picked this

    It is a recommendation that the argument evaluates by considering

    The author's two premises are more like examples of her conclusion. She is concluding that "it's possible to desire money without desiring material possessions", and her two premises are each conforming examples of that phenomenon.

  5. Out of Scope: problem / solution1% picked this

    It alludes to a problem for which the conclusion of the argument

    Nothing in this conversation matches well with the concepts of problem or solution. The author is just trying to clarify a distinction between two things, desiring money and desiring material goods.

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