December 2008 LSAT Section 3 Question 18

Fund–raiser: A charitable organization rarely gives its donors the right to vote on its policies. The inability to d...

ielkind on October 23, 2019

Why is the answer E as opposed to B?

Answer (E) explains how the amount of money donated can be directly affected by the emotional connection donors have with their charities, while (B) claims that charities have increased their donations with a greater emotional connection given to their donors. Doesn't (B) lend more support to the conclusion by explaining how donations increase from emotional connections?

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SamA on October 23, 2019

Hello @ielkind,

Good question! I think this is an excellent example to demonstrate the differences between a strengthen question and a necessary assumption question. You may be correct that B supports the conclusion. However, we need to look for a different type of answer. Rather than simply strengthening, our necessary assumption is something that the argument is totally dependent on. Do we need B to be true in order to draw the conclusion? No, we do not. Most charities who have increased donations could have done so through bake sales, and our argument could still stand.

Let's take a look at E. The argument depends on it. If E is not true, and emotional connection cannot affect donations, then our argument falls apart completely. The fund-raiser is relying on the assumption that voting rights will increase emotional connection, which will in turn increase donations. The argument is missing the link between emotion and donation, so we need to provide it in the form of an assumption.

ielkind on October 23, 2019

Okay, that makes so much more sense. Thank you so much!