Argument Structure Questions - - Question 29

The media now devote more coverage to crime than they did ten years ago. Yet this is not because the crime rate has ...

Alyona1983 January 26, 2018

Why this conclusion?

I've read the previous comment. Please explain why do you think the conclusion is the one you had mentioned there? My main concern about it is that you've taught us that the conclusion does never explain any sentence in the argument, but this one explain the first sentence, doesn't it? Thank you

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Mehran February 8, 2018

@AlyonaHess there is a difference between explaining something and supporting something.

We say that the conclusion will not support anything else.

Remember, however, that in every cause and effect argument the conclusion will be a proposed cause, i.e. the author's explanation for the observed effect. So it would definitely not be true to say that a conclusion cannot explain another sentence in the argument.

Hope that helps! Please let us know if you have any other questions.

Alyona1983 February 23, 2018

Thank you, Mehran. It's totally clear now.

Alyona1983 February 23, 2018

Guys, I'm trying to navigate to this question to see the other posts made by other students. Please remind me the section this question belongs to and the number in that section.
Thank you.

Alyona1983 February 23, 2018

In the "view" tab i can only see the question and answers, but I don't see where this q/n from and what is its number in that section.

Alyona1983 February 23, 2018

Although I understand the explanation, I answered the question incorrectly again (I did it before reading the explanation to check myself and the result of a month of studying).

NativeJustice April 21, 2018

@Alyona, the question is in Argument Structure Section, question 29.

Tejas May 8, 2020

@Mehran, I disagree with your explanation. In cause and effect relationship, the effect is the conclusion.
Eg:- The road is wet because it was raining 10 min ago.
cause -it was raining 10 min ago
effect- the road is wet
=> conclusion is that the road is wet
Am I wrong? Can you explain your stance please?

Tejas May 8, 2020

In that , the premise supporting conclusion 'the road is wet' is that 'it was raining 10 min ago'

cannedfun February 28, 2023

(just another student on his LSAT journey)
In that example 'the road is wet' is not the conclusion because it is granted as true.
Someone could argue that your conclusion(cause) is incorrect because someone spilled water.
Or I could say
The road is wet (fact)
not because someone spilled water (false alt cause)
but because it rained ("correct" cause)
So if you negate the conclusion, the road might still be wet.
You could map this to the question in a similar way:
The media now devote more coverage to crime than they did ten years ago. (fact/effect)
Yet this is not because the crime rate has increased (false alt cause),
but rather because the public is now more interested in reading and hearing about crime. (correct cause)

Additionally, you cant say : A->B so not A-> not B
If the road is not wet or media doesnt cover crime more, you would have to scrap the whole thing, but you could freely negate the causes/conclusions here.

Hope that helps in some way =]