October 2010 LSAT Section 1 Question 1

By referring to the Universal Declaration of Human Rights as "purely programmatic" (line 49) in nature, the author mo...

Je'Tiah on September 21, 2022

Example 10 Strengthen with Necessary Premise

Why is D not the correct answer? I do not understand how answer choice D is not the answer choice if the conclusion suggests that the brittleness cannot determine the age of the rattlesnake. Answer D. suggests that the brittleness is no correlated with the length of life, consequently, I thought D would be the correct answer since it strengthens the argument.

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Emil-Kunkin on December 23, 2022

Hi, saying the brittleness is not correlated with age does not actually strengthen the Argument. That said, we aren't trying to strengthen the argument, we are trying to find something the author has assumed, that is, something the author must believe is true. The author does not have to think there is no correlation between age and brittleness. If there were a correlation, maybe that snakes get more brittle as they age, that would not destroy the argument.