October 2013 LSAT Section 4 Question 23

Company president: Almost every really successful product introduced in the last ten years has been launched by a mas...

rksz on April 21, 2017

Difference between D/E

So, the stimulus gives us the following information: P1: SP - most - TVAD P2: TVAD C: SP What is hanging me up is the difference between answer choices D and E. D (Correct Answer) P1: PPS - most - PHD P2: PHD C: PS But E seems to have the same structure. P1: NPP - most - EP P2: NPP C: EP My thought as to the difference between the two is that the stimulus and D apply the quantified statement to new situations where the past is no indication of the future (I.e. Just because an ad campaign has been correlated with successful product in the past doesn't mean it will be in the future with this new product; similarly just because most previous presidents have held PHDs doesn't mean the next one is any more likely to as a result). But that for E it is a good indicator because the action is the same (i.e. We're using the track record of the publisher to infer that a new publication of theirs will probably achieve similar profits). Is that correct?

Replies

Create a free account to read and take part in forum discussions.

Already have an account? log in

Mehran on April 23, 2017

@rksz (E) is not the same structure.

Notice that in the stimulus and in (D), the premise is the right side of your most statement, whereas in (E) the premise is the left side.

The flaw here is not the "most" part, because both the stimulus and (D) concede that the conclusion will possibly not happen.

Stimulus says "will probably be very successful" and (D) says "will probably be appointed as president of Sifton University."

The flaw here is mistaking sufficient and necessary conditions.

This breakdown will make this clearer for you:

Stimulus:

P: Most (SP ==> MTAC)

P: MTAC

C: Probably SP

(D):

P: Most (SP ==> PhD)

P: PhD

C: Probably SP

Notice both of these are taking the necessary condition to conclude the sufficient condition.

Now let's compare that to (E):

P: Most (NPP ==> P)

P: NPP

C: Probably P

Notice that (E) is not even a flawed argument.

Hope this helps! Please let me know if you have any other questions.

rksz on April 23, 2017

Thanks for the explanation!