Which one of the following statements most accurately characterizes a difference between the two passages?
balde_kadija@yahoo.comon June 7, 2022
Valid arguments
So, just to confirm, we can very well be given passages in the LSAT that have FALSE premises...and it is up to us to know from common sense, personal knowledge, and/or personal experiences that that premise is not true?
I assumed that we would only encounter passages with TRUE premises and that we would only be responsible for determining if the conclusion logically follows the premise...is that not the case?
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As I finished watching the Valid arguments section, Mehran himself says to assume that premises will be true "for our purposes." This just confused me even more...so will LSAT arguments always only give us TRUE premises or not? If so, what is the purpose of being given an example trick question that uses a false premise?
Emil-Kunkinon June 10, 2022
Hi Balde,
The test will give us premises that are plausible. For example, we could have the following premises (or similar types) all show up on the test:
"Most scientists accept that dinosaurs were killed by an asteroid" "The sun rises in the east" "countries with socialized healthcare systems tend to have better health outcomes" "Clayton Kershaw is among the best pitchers in the national league"
Some of these (e.g. the sun) are simply true facts, others are potentially debatable (such as kershaw or healthcare). However, a reasonable person could accept these as true for the sake of argument, regardless of if one actually believes it to be true.
However, we will not see premises that are clearly false, such as:
"I am actually a dinosaur" "The sun rises in the west"
Premises may be true facts, or statements that are not necessarily true, but regardless, we must accept them as true and only attack the argument, not the premises. (Note, that a weaken question would be the most notable exception. If new evidence is presented that undermines a premise, that weakens the argument.) We will never see premises that are clearly or obviously false.
