LSAT 105 | Section 1 | Logical Reasoning: Q8

LR Question 8 Explanation

QUESTION TEXT: Economist: In the interaction between producers and consumers …

QUESTION TYPE: Necessary Assumption

CONCLUSION: Consumers are always obligated to report product defects but producers are never obligated to reveal them.

REASONING:

1. In consumer-producer interactions, the only obligation all parties have is to act in their own best interest.
2. Distributing information about product defects is in the best interest of the consumer.

ANALYSIS: We only know that distributing this information is in the best interest of the consumer. We don’t know anything about whether or not it benefits producers. The argument just assumes it is never in the best interest of the producer. This is a necessary assumption for the argument to hold.

If there were cases where it was in a producer’s best interest to reveal a defect, the conclusion that they are never obligated to do so would be contradictory.

___________

1. CORRECT. See discussion above. The negation of A wrecks the argument.
   Negation: It is sometimes in the best interests of producers to reveal a product defect.
2. The economist is focused on what producers are obligated to do, not what people expect of them.
   Negation: Some people expect producers to act in a manner counter to their own best interests.
3. This doesn’t really matter. The obligation doesn’t relate to discovering the defect, only that once you do, you’re obligated to report.
   Negation: Some product defects are unlikely to be discovered by consumers.
4. The relative likelihood of discovering doesn’t impact the argument. The argument is about who has an obligation to report.
   Negation: A product defect is less likely to be discovered by a consumer than by a producer.
5. They might coincide on other issues than product defects. We don’t know. The argument just assumes that on this issue, they have opposite ways of protecting their interests (reporting vs. not).
   Negation: The best interests of consumers sometimes coincide with the best interests of producers.