#2 - The use of money causes a civilization to decline. That

[LustingFor!L]

B is the correct answer, because it shows cause without effect.. right?

[Emily Haney-Caron]

Yes! Awesome job on this one.

[andriana.caban]

Hi,

Can this argument be diagrammed in the following way:

Advent of money civilization declines

My prephrase(s):
(1) War, famine, or something else causes civilization to decline

I did not understand what intrinsic value meant and what relationship it had with the decline of western civilization. In other words, I did not understand what "...as a substitution for things of intrinsic value".

Although I choose A, I really wanted to choose B but eliminated this answer choice because it was about Eastern cultures but the stimulus was talking about Western cultures and civilization.

On that note, can you please summarize why each answer choice is wrong? If my prephrase above was correct? And, if I identified the conclusion of this argument and diagrammed the cause and effect relationship correctly?

Thank you!

[Brook Miscoski]

Adriana,

This is a causal argument. It is the use (including increased use) of money that is asserted as the cause, not the advent of money.

Use of Money Civilization Declines (this being causal, not conditional)

There are multiple ways of weakening a cause effect argument, in this case, it is weakened by showing a circumstance where the cause exists but the effect did not follow, answer choice (B).

"Intrinsic value" is a comically bad argument that has been raised by various people throughout history. Intrinsic means "belonging naturally, essential," but nothing has value except to the person who wants or needs it for one reason or another, and thus there is no such thing as "intrinsic value." Think water. Are you thirsty, or are you drowning?

You don't need to care about any of that to get the question right, because you can just focus on weakening the claim that using money causes civilization to decline. (A) is about people's preferences and tells us nothing about whether their preferences help or hurt civilization, so (A) is irrelevant and can be eliminated immediately. Don't get focused on an answer choice just because it recycles a word.

[LSAT2020]

I incorrectly chose A

I think this was due to me not being able to correctly identify the conclusion. I thought the conclusion was that money causes civilizations' intrinsic value to decline. However, the real main conclusion is that money causes civilizations to decline. The decline of intrinsic value in Western culture is simply one case study (i.e. a premise). Thus, if someone were to point out that in civilization B this conclusion does not apply, then we are creating doubt about the author's argument. This is precisely what answer choice B does for us.

[Frank Peter]

Hi LSAT2020,

If you're finding yourself struggling to identify the conclusion in an argument, ask yourself what the speaker is trying to prove. The conclusion is the statement for which they are offering supporting reasons (premises). Here, the conclusion is pretty straightforward - it is the first sentence in the stimulus. Everything else is offered in support of the notion that money causes civilizations to decline.

One thing to note: when the author talks about things of "intrinsic value", they're not really talking about the intrinsic value of the civilization itself, just items used as a means of exchange.