LSAT 105 | Section 4 | Logical Reasoning: Q21

LR Question 21 Explanation

QUESTION TEXT: Ethicist: A person who treats others well …

QUESTION TYPE: Must Be False

FACTS:

• If two people treat others well, the one motivated at least partly by compassion is more worthy of praise than the one motivated solely by moral duty.
• This can be true even though feelings are not chosen.

ANALYSIS: The second sentence tells us that a person can’t choose to have feelings / choose what feelings they have.

Yet the ethicist says in the first sentence: compassionate feelings can make someone more praiseworthy.

If we combine those together, that tells us something important: praiseworthiness isn’t determined solely by things under a person’s control.

Something outside your control (compassion) can still affect praise.

___________

1. Could be true. The ethicist never discusses whether actions lacking feelings should count toward praise, so this is compatible with the stimulus.
2. Could also be true. The ethicist only talks about people who treat others well. The stimulus says nothing about compassionate people who harm others.
3. CORRECT. This can’t be true. Compassionate feelings are not chosen, yet the ethicist explicitly says they can make someone more worthy of praise.
4. Could be true. The ethicist never says people motivated solely by duty are not praiseworthy. He only says they are less praiseworthy than compassionate people.
5. Could also be true. The stimulus says nothing about whether wanting to be compassionate deserves praise.