December 2012 LSAT Section 2 Question 24

Studies have found that human tears contain many of the same hormones that the human body produces in times of emotio...

sal8907 on June 28, 2019

C vs. E

Why is E preferable compared to C? I couldn't decide between the two on the Practice Test. Does the phrase even if in C do enough to shed doubt on causality, or is it not explicit enough?

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Ravi on June 28, 2019

@sal8907,

Happy to help. Let's take a look at (E) and (C).

(C) says, "fails to adequately address the possibility that, even if
one phenomenon causally contributes to a second phenomenon, the second
phenomenon may causally influence the first as well"

(C) does outline a causal fallacy, but it doesn't outline the correct
causal fallacy. The problem in the stimulus isn't that reducing
emotional stress might also cause one to cry, so this is out.

(E) says, "takes for granted that because certain substances are
present whenever a condition occurs, those substances are a cause of
that condition"

The substances mentioned in (E) are the hormones, and just because the
hormones are present when someone is stressed out does not mean that
they are the cause of the stress. (E) picks up on where the argument
is most vulnerable, so it's the correct answer choice.

Does that make sense? Let us know if you have any other questions!

Anna20 on June 12, 2020

Could you please explain why each of the answers is correct/incorrect? I'm not sure I've understood most of these answers! Thanks so much!

Anna20 on June 12, 2020

Would you diagram this question?

Kweb1016 on November 12, 2020

Why not A?

lklop on November 30, 2020

^^ why not A?