LSAT 118 | Section 4 | Logical Reasoning: Q10

LR Question 10 Explanation

QUESTION TEXT: The enthusiastic acceptance of ascetic lifestyles …

QUESTION TYPE: Flawed Reasoning

CONCLUSION: Medieval societies cared less about money than modern Western cultures do.

REASONING: Monastic authors felt positively toward ascetic lifestyles.

ANALYSIS: There might be some unfamiliar words here. That’s okay. You should use context clues.

First, ascetic. If they’re saying feeling positively about X lifestyle means you care less about money, that lifestyle is probably one that lets go of materialistic things.

Second, monastic authors. Think along the lines of monks, monasteries, etc.

You should always search up words you’re unsure of when you’re reviewing. Ascetic means a lifestyle marked by strict discipline that avoids physical pleasures. It’s basically a simple life, often for religious reasons. Think Gandhi.

So, we have:

• Monastic authors (monks/nuns) enjoy simple, disciplined lives.
• So medieval societies probably cared less about money than we do now.

But monks and nuns are KNOWN for simple lives! Obviously, they would enthusiastically accept them.

Most people don’t live like monks or nuns, though. So why would a sample of monastic authors be representative of medieval people as a whole?

This is a classic flaw: unrepresentative sample.

___________

1. See above. They use the term ascetic correctly.
2. CORRECT. If monks represented society broadly, maybe the conclusion would work. But that’s very unlikely. Other medieval people might have cared about money just as much or more than we do today.
3. This might have been tempting because the argument compares medieval and modern societies. But they’re not judging the medieval one using a modern standard. It’s just: who cares more about money.
4. That’s kind of silly. Arguments are usually based on some level of personal opinion anyways, but this one does have evidence (the monastic authors). It just draws a WAY too broad conclusion based on that evidence.
5. Nothing is contradictory about this argument.