December 2015 LSAT Section 2 Question 21

Principle: If one does not criticize a form of behavior in oneself or vow to stop it, then one should not criticize t...

avif on June 10, 2020

Why not D?

I am a bit confused by this one. Isn't the set up that if one doesn't criticize ones self (CS/) or doesn't vow (V/) then one shouldn't criticize others (CO/). CS/ or V/ -> CO/. Contra-positive CO-> CS & V. Answer D says that he already criticized himself so therefore if he will CO then he must also vow. Doesn't A miss that? Am I missing something?

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shunhe on June 14, 2020

Hi @avif,

Thanks for the question! So (D) isn’t going to tell us anything about how Shimada shouldn’t criticize McFeney. It gives us pretty irrelevant information by just telling us that he criticizes himself for his own tardiness. We have

~Criticize self —> ~Criticize others

But we cannot conclude from that

Criticize self —> Criticize others

Since that is a mistaken negation.

Hope this helps! Feel free to ask any other questions that you might have.

avif on June 15, 2020

Thanks for the response. I don't understand what you are saying. If we combine the information that we have in the application with what we have in answer choice D than it makes sense. We know that S criticizes himself (answer choice D) and therefore if he doesn't also vow to stop also then he shouldn't criticize others. But if he would vow to stop then he would have both the sufficient conditions which would allow him to criticize others. What am I missing here?

Emil-Kunkin on March 27, 2023

The principle that we are trying to apply here is that you should not criticize if you fail two tests. D establishes that S passes one of the tests. If S passes the test, then the principle cannot be properly applied.