LSAT 118 | Section 4 | Logical Reasoning: Q16

LR Question 16 Explanation

QUESTION TEXT: People are not happy unless they feel that they are …

QUESTION TYPE: Most Strongly Supported

FACTS:

1. People aren’t happy unless they feel needed by others.
2. Most people can only achieve that feeling through family and friends.
3. That’s because everyone knows they’re replaceable at work.

ANALYSIS: You could diagram part of this question, but it’s not really that helpful.

Happy → feels needed (Contrapositive: doesn’t feel needed → not happy)

Then the second sentence tells us: Most people can only achieve this feeling through family and friends.

Why? Because at work, they know they’re replaceable.

The author is basically saying: The only place most people can satisfy a requirement for happiness is in their personal relationships.

That doesn’t mean that everyone is happy. It also doesn’t mean work never contributes to happiness. It just means that for most people, the route to happiness lies in private personal relationships.

___________

1. Wrong and way too strong. The stimulus explicitly says most people find indispensability through family and friendship. So realizing you’re replaceable at work does not prevent happiness.
2. The facts seem to suggest the opposite. Family and friendship become more important because work does not provide the necessary feeling of being needed.
3. The stimulus never tells us whether most people are actually happy. It only discusses where happiness could come from.
4. Nothing in the stimulus says people dislike or fail to appreciate their jobs. Knowing that you’re replaceable isn’t the same thing as disliking your job.
5. CORRECT. This is exactly what the author’s implying. Most people can feel indispensable only in family and friendship. Since feeling needed is necessary for happiness, most people cannot find happiness outside that sphere.