Causal Reasoning

[akalsi]

Hello,

The bible states that when a stimulus concludes with a causal statement, chances are very high that it is flawed in some way. It also states that "if the causal statement is the premise, then the argument may be flawed, but not because of the causal statement".

What I was able to understand from this is, when the LSAT authors indicate a causal statement in the premises they tend to let this go unchallenged and uses that causal argument as a "principle" of some sort to arrive at their conclusion. The bible states that this is considered as "valid reasoning".

If we encounter this type of situation in the stimulus and the question stem asks us to determine the flaw in the reasoning, could the flaw still be the causal statement presented in the premises? Or would a flaw in the reasoning question normally have the causal flaw based in the conclusion?

In other words, because the author would let the causal statement in the premises go unchallenged, can we indicate that as a flaw? Or would we have to focus on something else in a flaw in the reasoning question?

[Dave Killoran]

Hi Akalsi,

Thanks for the question! If I follow you correctly, the answer is: No, a causal premise would not be seen as a flaw that could be exploited by an answer choice.

I do say in the LRB that the premises are largely left unchallenged in Flaw questions, and that is the case. That's because these are Flaw in the Reasoning questions, and reasoning typically involves taking steps from a starting point to an ending point. If you were to challenge the basis of a premise (as in, "the causal premise is in error"), that would be a factual challenge, not a reasoning challenge. So, in a Flaw question with a causal premise, what you'd typically see is the author taking that premise, and then making the error down the line as they reasoned from the premise.

Please let me know if that helps. Thanks!

[akalsi]

Hi Dave,

Yes that absolutely answers my question!

Thank you so much for the clarification.

[Dave Killoran]

Happy to help, thanks!