The stable functioning of a society depends upon the relatively long-term stability of the goals of its citizens. Thi...

Jacob-R May 1, 2019

This is a tricky one, and requires careful attention to the exact phrasing of the answer options.

Answer E states that “the claim that a society is stable only if its laws tend to increase the happiness of citizens” plays the role of being “used to illustrate the general principle that the argument presupposes.” But is that claim really “illustrating” anything? And what is the “general principle that the argument presupposes” that this claim is “illustrating?”

If anything, that claim IS a “general principle that the argument presupposes” (as indicated by the phrase “it should be obvious that” preceding it) rather than a claim used TO ILLUSTRATE a general principle.

Answer B is far more on target: the conclusion of the argument comes at the beginning, that the stable functioning of society depends upon the long-term stability of the goals of citizens. And we get a logical chain supporting that conclusion majority has predictable aspirations -> otherwise impossible for leg to augment satisfaction, and “should be obvious that society is stable ONLY IF its laws tend to increase happiness. So that claim is support for the conclusion!

I hope that helps. Please let us know if you have further questions.

riaunna-bowie September 24, 2019

I remember reading that general principles typically include sufficient and necessary conditions which is why I chose E.

Gozi October 13, 2019

I need help in figuring out a better way to establish the technical application of the word "illustrate" than was given by Jacob above. I picked E because I took illustrate to simply be another way of saying "getting across." Is this truly one of the only indicators that we have to go on to determine that this is not the right choice, or... should we a have the mind-frame of "Well, this sounds good BUT B sounds BETTER?"

shunhe January 8, 2020

Hi guys,

Remember to be flexible in your following of generalities like that, @riaunna-Bowie! Yes, they can be helpful sometimes, but there's a reason that general principles only "typically" include sufficient and necessary conditions. Make sure you're still evaluating each answer choice individually!

@Gozi, it's a combination of both your suggestions. When the LSAT uses words like "illustrate" or "many/some," it doesn't necessarily use them in the same way we would colloquially, and so it's important to know the difference between the way the LSAT uses as word and regular word usage. We should always have a mind-frame, however, of looking for the best answer. Even if two answers aren't necessarily wrong, if one is clearly better, we go with that one every time. Hope this helps!