June 2008 LSAT Section 2 Question 5
Byrne: One of our club's bylaws specifies that any officer who fails to appear on time for any one of the quarterly ...

2 Replies

Serra on May 26, 2019
“Presumes, without providing justificationâ€
The argument assumes
“If certain events each predict a certain result,â€
If F or M —-> S
“Then no other event is sufficient to produce that result.â€
If not F & not M —-> not S
If S —- F or M
S exists. Not M exists.
C: T —-> F

Shunhe on January 3, 2020
Hi @Ellen,Sure, thanks for the question. (B) is saying that the argument assumes that if certain events each produce a particular result, then no others are sufficient to produce that result. If you want to diagram B:
Certain events each produce a certain result - > ~Another event can produce that result
In the context of this question, the two events in question are not appearing on time for a quarterly board meeting and missing two of the monthly general meetings. The author concludes that Thibodeaux didn't show up on time for a quarterly board meeting, since he's never missed a monthly general meeting. But this is only one of the bylaws; another bylaw might have other provisions for suspension, such as if an officer shows up drunk to a meeting. This would be an example of another event that would produce "that result," which is suspension. In other words, we're given
Miss meeting or late - > Suspension
But the author concludes
Suspension - > Miss meeting or late
Which confuses the sufficient and necessary terms. Hope this helps!