Which one of the following statements most accurately characterizes a difference between the two passages?
Jesswon September 3, 2020
Sue...
Hi I am so confused. In my book 'The Loophole' by Ellen Cassidy, she says never attack the premises and ALWAYS assume they are true, but now Mehran is saying for question two on the Sue one to attack the premise even though it follows logically? What about the premise is false, and was Ellen Cassidy wrong?
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I have read some of the discussions and I am still confused. Let's say I assume it is correct unless I have, as I read in the discussion responses, something that weakens the argument. 'Anyone' is very had to prove, I realize this. But 'anyone' is in a premise, it is not in the conclusion. The conclusion follows exactly what the premise is saying. It is neccesary on the LSAT, from books I have read, and from responses I have read on here, that you stay strictly to the world of the premise, and you do not add anything yourself. So if in this 'world' where ANYONE whose name is Sue is a girl (again, we are not talking about reality, we are talking about the world of the premise), I can't just add in a random thought from our reality...."oh hey!! but wait I'm sure there is some guy named Sue somewhere!!" Well, no. In this premise world, it is stated that these are the rules. I can not bend the rules (or the premise) to make the conclusion invalid. Please help me to understand your reasoning.
Jesswon September 15, 2020
hi just following up
Victoriaon September 21, 2020
Hi @Jessw,
Thanks for your question.
A lot of students find this example extremely confusing. In this example, the reason that the premise is false is because of the Johnny Cash song "A Boy Named Sue." The song tells us that there is at least one boy named Sue; therefore, the premise is false, and the conclusion cannot be drawn.
The purpose of this example is just to raise the rare possibility that you will come across a question with a false premise. If there is a false premise on the LSAT, it will be common sense and very obvious that it is false. While this example is a bit confusing, especially if you've never heard the song, it is raised so that you always keep in the back of your mind that it is possible that you will come across a false premise.
Again, if you come across a false premise, it will be extremely obvious. So, keep following the advice from your books and from the course and assume that the premises are true unless there is information presented in the stimulus or the answer choices that allows you to attack the premises. That's a good way of thinking about things - that we are in the "world" of the question and we can only use the information that is available in this "world." Just keep in the back of your mind that it is theoretically possible to come across a false premise.
Hope this helps! Please let us know if you have any further questions.
