LSAT and Law School Admissions Forum

Get expert LSAT preparation and law school admissions advice from PowerScore Test Preparation.

 Administrator
PowerScore Staff
  • PowerScore Staff
  • Posts: 8917
  • Joined: Feb 02, 2011
|
#81474
Complete Question Explanation

Parallel Reasoning. The correct answer choice is (C).

Answer choice (A):

Answer choice (B):

Answer choice (C): This is the correct answer choice.

Answer choice (D):

Answer choice (E):

This explanation is still in progress. Please post any questions below!
 rwraulynaitis
  • Posts: 27
  • Joined: May 06, 2020
|
#76382
Hi,

On this question, I was between (C) and (D) and am still having trouble differentiating the two. Could you explain why (C) is correct and (D) is not?

Thanks!
 Jeremy Press
PowerScore Staff
  • PowerScore Staff
  • Posts: 1000
  • Joined: Jun 12, 2017
|
#76418
Hi rw,

Both the stimulus and answer choice C contain valid applications of the contrapositive.

Answer choice D's conclusion is too broad, and is therefore invalid, and so won't be parallel to the stimulus. What answer choice D's conclusion should've said to be valid is "Many teachers should not punish pupils whose parents have not given them permission to do so." But for the speaker of answer choice D to say in general that many teachers should not punish their pupils assumes that all the parents of those teachers' pupils have not given them permission. Otherwise they could punish some of their pupils (just not the ones of parents who haven't given permission).

Notice also that the necessary conditions of the conditional statements that begin the arguments in answer choice C and the stimulus invoke motive. Capturing is justified only with the right motive (to save a life). Punishing is justified only with the right motive (concern for the child's future welfare). This is a relevant difference that makes answer choice C closer to the stimulus as well.

I hope this helps!

Jeremy
 SwanQueen
  • Posts: 31
  • Joined: Dec 28, 2019
|
#78235
Hello,

I chose (C) correctly. I wanted to double-check that the way I derived (C) was through sound logic.

Argument:

s1: if A (save animal's life) then B (capture justified)
Key words: "only"

s2: Many not A (not to save animal's life)
Key words: "but" and "many"

s3: Therefore many not B (not justified)
Key word: "many"


Answer (C):

s1: if A (for child's welfare) then B (justified to punish)
Keyword: "only"

s2: Many not A (not for child's welfare)
Keywords: "But" and "many"

Concl: Therefore many not B (not justified to punish)
Keyword: "many"



(A):
if A (reform bad behavior) then B (punishing child justified)
Not A (not reforming bad behavior)
Therefore Not B (punishing not justified)
Although similar to (C) in its format (is "format" the appropriate word to describe that I am saying?), (A) is incorrect because counter premise and conclusion are not "many"

(B):
I had trouble writing this one out as if A then B. Can you help me with this? I eliminated this answer choice because it does not use "only" in the first premise.

(D):
if A (punishment justified) then B (teacher gave permission to do so)
Many not B (teachers did not give permission)....
I ended it there, as this answer states that the necessary condition was not met, but we need the sufficient condition ("A") to not be met.

(E):
Did not adopt a lot of keywords, so I did not bother trying to simplify the conditional statement to "if A then B" format
Keywords not listed: "only" and "many"

Thanks in advance!
User avatar
 KelseyWoods
PowerScore Staff
  • PowerScore Staff
  • Posts: 1079
  • Joined: Jun 26, 2013
|
#79172
Hi SwanQueen!

Careful with your conditional diagramming here. Remember that "only" is a necessary indicator. When you diagram the stimulus, you should see a contrapositive.

Stimulus:
Capture of wild animal justified :arrow: Captured as last resort to save the animal's life
Many animals: Captured as last resort to save the animal's life :arrow: Capture of wild animal justified
This is a contrapositive.

Answer choice (A):
Only way to reform poor behavior :arrow: Punishing a child justified
Only way to reform poor behavior :arrow: Punishing a child justified
This is a Mistaken Negation.

Answer choice (B):
Child regularly behaves in ways that disturb them :arrow: Parents who never punish a child justified in complaining
Many: Parents who never punish a child complain :arrow: Parents who complain about their children have no right to complain
This is not a contrapositive. It introduces new terms.

Answer choice (C):
Punishing young child justified :arrow: Punishing out of concern for child's future welfare
Many: Punishing out of concern for child's future welfare :arrow: Punishing young child justified
This is a contrapositive and therefore matches our stimulus above.

Answer choice (D):
Teacher entitled to punish kid :arrow: child's parents have explicitly given the teacher the permission to do so
Many: Child's parents have explicitly given the teacher the permission to do so :arrow: Teacher entitled to punish kid
This is also looks like a contrapositive, but as Jeremy discusses above, the conclusion is too broad and it does not speak to motive in the same way that the stimulus and answer choice (C) do.

Answer choice (E):
Society right to punish children for deeds that would be crimes if they were adults
Society right to protect itself from children who are threats :arrow: Confinement of such children is not punishment
This is not a contrapositive.

Hope this helps!

Best,
Kelsey

Get the most out of your LSAT Prep Plus subscription.

Analyze and track your performance with our Testing and Analytics Package.