September 2016 LSAT Section 4 Question 24

Politician: Democracy requires that there be no restrictions on the ability of citizens to share their ideas freely, ...

on April 26 at 11:26PM

Conclusion

Hi! I am a little confused as to what the conclusion is in this prompt. Why is it not the part that starts with “Therefore”? Thanks!

2 Replies

Skylar on April 27 at 02:18AM

@achalfp97, happy to help!

The passage can be broken down as follows:
Premise: Democracy requires no restriction on citizens' ability to share their ideas freely, without fear of reprisal.
Subsidiary Conclusion/Premise: Therefore, the right to have private and unmonitored conversations is essential to democracy.
(Overall) Conclusion: For a government to monitor Internet conversations would thus setback democracy.

You are correct in identifying "therefore" as an indicator of a conclusion. However, "thus" is also a conclusion indicator.

Here, the second sentence is a conclusion that is supported by the first sentence. However, this second sentence in turn supports a larger conclusion- the last sentence. We call something that is both a conclusion and a premise that supports a larger conclusion a "subsidiary conclusion." That is what the second sentence is.

Does that make sense? Please let us know if you have any additional questions!

on April 27 at 06:00PM

Great! Thanks for the help, Skylar.