September 2016 LSAT Section 4 Question 12

West: Of our company's three quality control inspectors, Haynes is clearly the worst. Of the appliances that were ret...

Melody on January 9, 2021

Answer choice D

The fact that Young mentioned that Haynes inspected more than half of the defected appliances doesn't it imply that he's arguing for a less extreme version of West's conclusion? That Haynes is NOT THE WORST inspector? Please someone clarify where I went wrong in my reasoning. Thank you!

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shunhe on January 13, 2021

Hi @Melody,

Thanks for the question! Well, so the answer choice here should be (E), not (D), so that might be where some of the confusion is coming from. Because you’re right, Young seems to be implying that Haynes is not clearly the worst, or at the very least, that Haynes is not the worst based on the evidence that West provided. What Young does is deny one of the things that West assumes, or in other words, deny one of West’s argument’s presuppositions. That presupposition is that the inspectors all examined roughly the same number of appliances. If Haynes is inspecting way more, as Young states, then West’s conclusion doesn’t necessarily follow from their premises.

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