October 2010 LSAT Section 1 Question 17

Which one of the following assertions from passage A provides support for the view attributed to Maritain in passage ...

maonuo on November 14, 2019

Example 7

I think that part C was diagrammed wrong. The sufficient and necessary conditions are opposite, since "the only" introduces sufficient and not necessary. Am I wrong?

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Irina on November 14, 2019

@maonuo,

You are correct. There are two possible ways to diagram this statement.

"The only" is theoretically a variation of a necessary indicator that modifies a condition elsewhere in the statement, thus it is often easier to see it as a sufficient condition indicator.

The only sufficient justification for experimenting on animals is that future animal suffering is thereby prevented.

"The only" here refers to justification, which is "suffering is thereby prevented," that is the part of the statement "the only" modifies. If we think about it as a sufficient indicator then we interpret the statement to say that if experimenting is justified then it must be true that the future suffering is prevented.

experiment justified -> suffering prevented

Another way is to see it as a biconditional if we interpret the statement as saying that experimenting is justified if and only if future animal suffering is thereby prevented.

experiment justified <-> suffering prevented.