Premise & Conclusion Analysis Drill #5

[Madison5941]

Hello,

I am confused as to why the phrase "thus these sharks are rightly classified as only a minor threat to people" is considered a premise. The answer key indicates that there is a "mini conclusion" in the second sentence and with "thus" being a conclusion indicator, I understood the phrase to not be a premise.

I understand that the phrase is not the main conclusion/argument of the stimulus but I did not include it as a premise because it did not seem like a premise. With the answer key noting that there is a mini conclusion in the second sentence but including the phrase as a premise and never identifying/explaining the mini conclusion, I am left very confused.

I thought it might be a premise because it makes the connection between minor threats & non-endangerment. (meaning it gives reasoning for/proves the conclusion) If this is the case, does that mean that an argument can also be a premise?

Can someone please help me to understand this? I appreciate the help. Thanks in advance. Hope my questions weren't too confusing

[Jeff Wren]

Hi Madison,

You are correct that the phrase "thus these sharks are rightly classified as only a minor threat to people" is a conclusion (but not the main conclusion, as you mentioned) that is supported by the statement in the first half of that sentence, "although attacks on humans are documented, they are rare." This is the "minor conclusion" mentioned in the explanation.

These types of conclusions that support the main conclusion are referred to on the LSAT by several names, including intermediate conclusions, subsidiary conclusions, supporting conclusions, and secondary conclusions.

The reason that it is also listed as a premise is that it functions like a premise in that it is used to support the main conclusion. Whether you want to describe it as a "premise" isn't as important as understanding its role in the argument, which is that it is a conclusion that is then used to provide support for the main conclusion.

There is a good discussion of these ideas on pages 44-45 of the Logical Reasoning Bible under "Complex Arguments."