September 2016 LSAT Section 4 Question 21

Only engineering is capable of analyzing the nature of a machine in terms of the successful working of the whole; phy...

smilde11 on November 6, 2018

PT 79, S4, Q21

Can you explain this one? I had trouble identifying the conclusion and so I couldn't identify the necessary assumption. In going over it in untimed conditions, selected C because I identified that the passage talks about the "notion of purpose" and C is the only one that also mentions the "notion of purpose" in the answer choices. However, I don't fully understand it. Thanks for your help!

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Mehran on November 7, 2018

Hi @smilde11. In the most simple terms, the analogy presented in the stimulus compares apples and oranges: engineering is deemed to be "similar" to physiology. On what basis? Both are said to be capable of "analyzing the nature" of a single thing (engineering analyzes the nature of the machine "in terms of the successful working of the whole"; physiology analyzes the nature of an organism "in terms of organs' roles in the body's healthy functioning"). The assumption required for this analogy to hold, at the most basic level, is just that machines and organisms may have something in common. Answer choice (C) says this, in a very convoluted and (intentionally) confusing way. Hope that helps.