December 2010 LSAT Section 3 Question 7

When the famous art collector Vidmar died, a public auction of her collection, the largest privately owned, was held....

AllyPauley3 on July 7, 2020

c vs. d

I don't see how C and D are different. They both have a part that is assumed as a whole. I narrowed it down to C and D but they are so similar I just guessed D

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shunhe on July 8, 2020

Hi @AllyPauley3,

Thanks for the question! The problem with (D) is that it does the opposite of what (C) and the stimulus do. Take a look at the stimulus. MacNeil’s saying that Vidmar has the most valuable collection ever, and so MacNeil can’t afford any of the individual works. What’s the error here? Well, she’s assuming what’s true of the entire whole has to be true of each part. The collection (the entire whole) is among the most valuable, so each painting (the parts) must be among the most valuable. This is flawed reasoning that’s paralleled in (C), which assumes what’s true of the whole (the paragraph) must be true of the parts (the sentences).

Now let’s take a look at (D). It says that the members of the company are old, so the company itself is old. This assumes that what’s true of the parts (the members) must be true of the whole (the company). In other words, it does the opposite! And that’s why (D) is wrong.

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