October 2010 LSAT Section 3 Question 3

Commentator: If a political administration is both economically successful and successful at protecting individual li...

Celine on November 8, 2020

General principle and conclusion

Hi, could someone help me understand what’s the difference between a general principle and a conclusion? For Q7 in the video, I know it for sure is a conclusion, but how do we know it’s not a generalization? Thanks

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AndreaK on November 18, 2020

Hi @Celine,

Good question! A generalization is a broad statement, such as: Crime is bad.

There may be, in certain circumstances, situations where crime might actually be a good thing. In general, however, crime is bad.

A generalization is a more general statement that is applied broadly. There may be exceptions, but again, it is a general rule or principal. Another example is "All dogs go to heaven." Most of us might like to think our canines have hearts of gold, but again, that might not always be true.

A conclusion is something that is posited and supported with evidence. Such as:

All cats are mammals. Snowball is a cat. Therefore, Snowball is a mammal.

Our conclusion, that Snowball is a mammal, is posited by the argument and supported by the preceding statements.

A conclusion plays a very distinct structural role in a stimulus. By contrast, a generalization does not. A generalization is simply a type of statement. Depending on the context, a generalization might serve as either evidence or conclusion.

Hope this helps!

Andrea