October 1991 LSAT Section 2 Question 24

There is little point in looking to artists for insights into political issues. Most of them hold political views tha...

Mazen on June 23, 2022

This is Incredibly Important (Please Respond)

Hi, So I had to search outside of TESTMAX to get the reasoning behind the correct answer-choice. What I learned is that the correct answer comes from the "most' statement, specifically the following one: "Most of them hold political views that are less insightful than those of any reasonably well–educated person who is not an artist." What I found conflicting with the literature is that "most" in this stimulus means "not all." Once I accepted that a "most-" statement means "not all," which means "some are not," the correct answer-choice became straightforward. The reasoning becomes: not all artists hold political views that are less insightful than those of any reasonably well–educated person who is not an artist." But is this true? Is the reasoning of the other prep courses correct in that does "most" mean "not all"??? Please respond Thank you

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Mazen on June 24, 2022

Hi,

So I had to search outside of TESTMAX to get the reasoning behind the correct answer-choice.

What I learned from the other prep-course is that in order to arrive at the correct answer-choice, "most" is interpreted as "not all," which in turn, according to TESTMAX, is interpreted as "some are not."

I'm highly uncomfortable with the first part, i.e. interpreting "most" as "not all." Please I need assurance that it is safe to interpret "most" as "not all."

The reasoning, according to the other prep-course, is that the correct answer comes from the "most" statement, specifically the second sentence: "Most of them hold political views that are less insightful than those of any reasonably well–educated person who is not an artist."

If I accept that a "most-" statement is logically equivalent to "not all," which is logically the same as "some are not," the second sentence can then be rewritten first as "not all artists hold political views that are less insightful than those of any reasonably well–educated person who is not an artist," and then again can be rewritten as: "some artists do not hold political views that are less insightful than those of any reasonably well-educated person who is not an artist."

Considering the second sentence being interpreted with "most" as "some are not," and then getting rid of the double negative - "...do not hold...less insightful..." - to simplify in a positive phraseology: the idea that "some artists do not hold political views that are less insightful..." is equivalent to stating that there exists at least one (or some) artist(s) that hold political views that are equally or more "insightful than those of any reasonably well-educated person who is not an artist." That is what answer-choice E, the correct choice, states.

But is it true that "most" means "some are not"? Is it accurate to infer "not all" from "most"?

Maybe only in this context, given the relatability of the statements to each other, it warranted to say that "most" means "not all"?

Or can I apply the definition of "most" meaning "not all" in every instance the quantifier "most" appears?

Or did the other prep-course get it all wrong, and answer-choice E is inferable on wholly different grounds?

Please help, my LSAT is coming up soon.

Thank you

Mazen on June 26, 2022

Hi,

Regarding my question in the post above. Please consider the fact that the lecture of LSATMAX on quantifiers makes it abundantly clear that from a "most-" statement, we can infer only one thing: a "some-" statement that reverses the order of the quantified variables. So, for example, if most As are Bs (diagrammed as A-MOST-B) we can infer that some Bs are As (diagrammed as B-SOME-A). I am not uncomfortable with this inference. I accept it and I am confident that it must be true.

Accordingly, inferring from a "A-MOST-B" statement a "some As are not Bs" as opposed to "B-SOME-A" is an inference that makes me highly uncomfortable. And yet, it is this uncomfortable deduction that leads to the correct answer-choice, E, according to another prep-course.

Again please, I do not want to take my LSAT while being unsure on whether this inference is valid. It's not unreasonable to assume that there's a whole other path to arriving at E, and that inferring "some are not" from a "most-" statement is an illegal deduction!

I need the LSATMAX heavy hitting LSAT experts to weigh in on this analysis please.

Your input is immensely helpful and will be greatly appreciated by this student!

Mazen

Mazen on July 7, 2022

"BUMP"

I was told by an LSATMAX representative to type the word "BUMP" in order to get the attention of a tutor.

Please refer to the three previous posts.

Thank you

Julia96 on September 6, 2023

BUMP

Emil-Kunkin on August 21 at 03:29PM

Yes, I would take it to mean not all. This is probably the only question I can remember that tested this, and since it is from 1991, I dont expect them to test this again, but I would interpret most to mean not all.