LSAT 117 | Section 4 | Logical Reasoning: Q10

LR Question 10 Explanation

QUESTION TEXT: Council member P: Alarmists are those who see …

QUESTION TYPE: Point at Issue

ARGUMENTS: P’S ARGUMENT: People have a disposition not to pollute. Alarmists mistakenly treat isolated incidents of pollution as evidence of a broader societal tendency.

Q’S ARGUMENT: It is easier to pollute than not to pollute, and actions tend to follow the path of least resistance. Therefore, discovering a serious instance of pollution can support the view that there is a lot of pollution.

ANALYSIS: The trickiest part of this question is figuring out what P and Q are actually arguing. Once you do that, it should be pretty clear what they’re disagreeing about.

P: People generally don’t want to pollute.
Q: People tend to do what’s easiest, and polluting is easier, so people tend to pollute.

So they’re disagreeing about whether people are inclined to pollute.

___________

1. Neither of them actually state whether pollution is a problem. But both of their statements generally align with the idea that pollution is problematic.
2. Q explicitly accepts this principle. P never rejects it or even addresses it.
3. Neither speaker discusses moral responsibility for pollution.
4. Neither of them address whether people are capable of changing their behavior.
5. CORRECT. P says people have a disposition not to pollute. Q’s reasoning implies that people tend to do what is easier and that it is easier to pollute, meaning people are inclined to pollute.