December 2013 LSAT Section 3 Question 20

Taylor: From observing close friends and relatives, it is clear to me that telepathy is indeed possible between peopl...

Kath on July 14, 2019

Answer choice A?

Could you tell me why A is not the correct answer? The passage goes from "family and friends" to "people" as a whole. Thank you!

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lerondagates on December 2, 2019

I have the same question as Kath. Why would the answer not be A. Why is the answer B? Is it because "cannot (too strong maybe?) be dismissed as a mere coincidence"? Because of this part of the stimulus, they are neglecting to address another reason for the friend or family member knowing what the person is thinking?

Please explain. Thanks in advance!

shunhe on December 26, 2019

Hi @Kath and @lerondagates,

The problem with (A) is twofold. One, we aren't told how long the sample size is - she may have observed a large number of close friends and relatives. Two, given the claim she is making, she only needs to have one positive case. Her claim is that telepathy is "possible," and to prove that something is possible, one only needs to show it once.

(B) is correct because there is another highly plausible alternative explanation: close friends and relatives spent and have spent a lot of time with each other and know each other well, and thus may have higher frequencies of knowing what the others are thinking or feeling. By failing to explain why this explanation doesn't apply here, Taylor leaves open a hole in her argument for telepathy. Hope this helps!