Logical ReasoningDifficulty: Easy

PT151 S4 Q7 Explanation

Politicians often advocate increased

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

TopicsFlaw

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Stimulus

Politicians often advocate increased overall economic productivity while ignoring its drawbacks. For example, attempting to increase the productivity of a corporation means attempting to increase its profitability, which typically leads to a reduction in the number of workers employed by that corporation. Thus, attempting to increase productivity business owners, but will increase the number of unemployed workers.

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
7.

The reasoning in the argument is most vulnerable to criticism on the grounds

Answer choices

  1. Bad Conclusion Match7% picked this

    presumes, without providing justification, that increased unemployment is sufficient reason to abandon increased productivity as

    The argument never claims that a goal of increased productivity should be abandoned. The argument only claims that certain drawbacks result from attempting to increase productivity, and that politicians ignore these drawbacks. That's not the same as claiming that the goal should be abandoned.

  2. Correct88% picked this

    fails to justify its presumption that attempting to increase productivity in the economy as a whole would produce results similar to those produced by

    Why this is right

    "Fails to justify its presumption" means "assumes." The intermediate conclusion is about attempting to increase productivity in the economy as a whole, while the supporting evidence is about attempting to increase productivity in a corporation. The argument assumes a similarity between these things.

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

  3. Bad Evidence Match1% picked this

    unfairly criticizes politicians in general on the basis of the actions of a few who are unwilling to consider the drawbacks

    In this answer choice, the phrase "on the basis of" refers to the evidence. The argument is not based on evidence about the actions of a few politicians.

  4. Bad Description2% picked this

    fails to justify its presumption that attempting to increase productivity in the economy as a whole is always more important than the

    "Fails to justify its presumption" means "assumes." The argument does not involve a comparison between the importance of attempting to increase productivity and the importance of the interests of workers or business owners. It doesn't assume that one of these is more important than the other.

  5. Bad Objection2% picked this

    fails to address all potential drawbacks and benefits of attempting to increase productivity at

    The argument doesn't address all potential drawbacks and benefits, but that's not a flaw in the argument. The argument is just claiming that certain drawbacks exist regardless of any benefits, and that politicians ignore these drawbacks that do exist.

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