June 2019 LSAT Section 3 Question 8

Astronomer: Conditions in our solar system have probably favored the emergence of life more than conditions in most o...

tkj97 on July 11, 2020

Help Please :)

I'm a little confused about why A is the correct answer. I thought that "and our sun has an unusually high abundance of these heavier elements for its age" was the evidence.

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shunhe on July 14, 2020

Hi @tkj97,

Thanks for the question! So you’re right in that “our sun has an unusually high abundance of these heavier elements for its age” is a piece of evidence. But (A) doesn’t say that “any conceivable form of life depends on chemical elements heavier than hydrogen and helium” is the ONLY evidence. It just says that it is “part of” the evidence offered for the argument’s only conclusion. More than one statement can be part of the evidence. And that’s exactly what (A) is. It’s evidence that’s asserted (not supported by other evidence) and helps the argument’s only conclusion.

Basically, you should recognize that (A) is describing what a premise is. A premise is basically a statement that’s not supported by other statements and goes on to support the conclusion. And is the sentence singled out by the question a premise? Absolutely. These are two premises that are used together to get to the conclusion, which is the first sentence of the passage.

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