October 2010 LSAT Section 3 Question 2

Since there is no survival value in an animal's having an organ that is able to function when all its other organs ha...

bcross on May 27, 2020

General principle vs main point

In example 4, we are given a general principle that supports the main point. At first, I thought the general principle was the main point. How do we know when the general principal is not the main point? And what exactly is a general principal in terms of the exam?

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Victoria on May 27, 2020

Hi @bcross,

Remember that the main point is the conclusion of the passage. If you're ever confused about which part of a passage is a premise/principle and which part is the conclusion, try using each to explain the other.

In this case, which makes the most logical sense?

P: Saying something false is always morally wrong
P: It was not true that Mark got into a traffic accident
C: It was wrong for Mark to tell his mother he missed her party because he got into an accident.

OR

P: It was not true that Mark got into a traffic accident.
P: It was wrong for Mark to tell his mother that he missed her party because he got into an accident.
C: Saying something false is always morally wrong.

You can't use the fact that it was wrong for Mark to lie to his mother to conclude that lying is always morally wrong.

A general principle will be a generalization that supports the passage but is not directly related to the particular scenario outlined therein.

In this case, the statement "saying something that is false can never be other than morally wrong" supports Helen's conclusion but it does not directly address the situation with Mark and his mother. Rather, it is a general principle which can be applied to any situation.

Hope this is helpful! Please let us know if you have any further questions.