Large inequalities in wealth always threaten the viability of true democracy, since wealth is the basis of political ...
hannahnaylor5July 18, 2019
Will there ever be flawed parallel reasoning questions?
I am trying to remember if we've ever had an example where the passage includes flawed reasoning that we are to find a parallel reasoning answer for (the passage has flawed reasoning and we are supposed to find the answer with the same flawed reasoning) or is the prompt/passage always valid?
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Great question.There are definitely flawed parallel reasoning questions.The prompt usually indicates that:
The flawed reasoning exhibited by the argument above is most similar to that exhibited by which one of the following arguments? (June 2007 LSAT Section III Question 20)
Which one of the following uses flawed reasoning that most closely resembles the flawed reasoning used in the argument above? (June 2007 LSAT Section II Question 2)
See below for an example from December 2011 LSAT Section IV Question 24:
Paleomycologists, scientists who study ancient forms of fungi, are invariably acquainted with the scholarly publications of all other paleomycologists. Professor Mansour is acquainted with the scholarly publications of Professor DeAngelis, who is a paleomycologist. Therefore, Professor Mansour must also be a paleomycologist.
The flawed pattern of reasoning in the argument above is most similar to that in which one of the following arguments?
(A) When a flight on Global Airlines is delayed, all connecting Global Airlines flights are also delayed so that the passengers can make their connections. Since Frieda's connecting flight on Global was delayed, her first flight must have also been a delayed Global Airlines flight.
(B) Any time that one of Global Airlines' local ticket agents misses a shift, the other agents on that shift need to work harder than usual. Since none of Global's local ticket agents missed a shift last week, the airline's local ticket agents did not have to work harder than usual last week.
(C) Any time the price of fuel decreases, Global Airlines' expenses decrease and its income is unaffected. The price of fuel decreased several times last year. Therefore, Global Airlines must have made a profit last year.
(D) All employees of Global Airlines can participate in its retirement plan after they have been with the company a year or more. Gavin has been with Global Airlines for three years. We can therefore be sure that he participates in Global's retirement plan.
(E) Whenever a competitor of Global Airlines reduces its fares, Global must follow suit or lose passengers. Global carried more passengers last year than it did the year before. Therefore, Global must have reduced its fares last year to match reductions in its competitors' fares.
