October 2010 LSAT Section 5 Question 24

One is likely to feel comfortable approaching a stranger if the stranger is of one's approximate age. Therefore, long...

JoshG on June 22, 2020

How Does E Play Into Logical Flaw?

I understand Mehran's explanation of the flaw in the argument (chaining two necessaries = bad; we need the sufficient from the conditional and the necessary from the quantifier), but how does E identify at that flaw? Thank you.

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Skylar on June 22, 2020

@JoshG, happy to help!

The argument concludes that most long-term friends are probably the same age. Why? Because most long-term friendships begin because someone felt comfortable approaching a stranger, and we are told that if you are of the same approximate age as a stranger, then you are likely to feel comfortable approaching them.

Notice the flaw in this- we know that you are likely to feel comfortable approaching a stranger if you are of their approximate age. If you are not of their approximate age, we have no idea how you feel approaching a stranger (because FCAS is our necessary condition). Perhaps you are comfortable doing so, in which case you could form a long-term friendship and would not be of the same age. In other words, the argument is too limited to support its own conclusion because it does not consider situations in which you are not the same age as a stranger. (E) is correct because it points this out.

Does that make sense? Hope it helps! Please let us know if you have any other questions!