Quantifiers Questions - - Question 24

Only a minority of those who engage in political action do so out of a sense of social justice. Therefore, some peopl...

Gabriela June 19, 2013

Answer choice A

Can you please explain why A is the best answer choice? I was able to cross out B, C, and D but then I couldn't come up with the right answer.

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Naz June 19, 2013

So it seems you are stuck between answer choice (A) and answer choice (E). The passage starts by stating that only a minority of those who engage in political action do so out of a sense of social justice. There is a reason LSAC has used the phrase "only a minority." They want to get you to think about what the majority is doing. Therefore, if the minority of people who engage in political action do so out of a sense of social justice, then the majority of people who engage in political action do not do it out of a sense of social justice. Then it concludes from this that some people who have a sense of social justice do not engage in political action. What the conclusion of the passage does is switch and negate the variables. Sounds like a contrapositive, right? Well, we know that quantity statements do not have contrapositives. Therefore, if the principle statement is:

EPA-most-not SSJ

All we can do is switch it to be:

not SSJ-some-EPA

Answer choice (A) has the principle rule: Most scholars are not motivated by a desire to win prestigious academic prizes:

S-most-not WAP

The conclusion in answer choice (A) again tries to make the contrapositive of the principle rule by switching and negating the principle rule to be: Some people who do want to win prestigious academic prizes are not scholars:

WAP-some-not S

Again, quantity statements don't have contrapositives. All we can conclude from the principle rule in answer choice (A): "S-most-not WAP" is "not WAP-some-S" because you can switch the variables of a MOST statement to a SOME statement.

The flaw in both answer choice (A) and the stimulus is that a contrapositive is being concluded when quantity statements cannot have contrapositives.

Answer choice (E) is not the correct answer because it does not use the same variables in its principle rule and conclusion. A company making good management decisions is not the negated form of a badly managed company. Therefore, we cannot say that (E) uses the same flaw of creating an non-existent contrapositive.

Hope that helps. Let me know if you have any other questions!