LSAT 128 | Section 2 | Logical Reasoning: Q16

LR Question 16 Explanation

QUESTION TEXT: Laurel: Modern moral theories must be jettisoned …

QUESTION TYPE: Point At Issue

ARGUMENTS: Laurel says a moral theory must be rejected or significantly revised if it fails to provide guidance in extreme cases, as this is when people need moral guidance the most.

Miriam argues a moral theory can still be useful even if it doesn’t work in every situation – it just needs to be effective in a wide variety of common circumstances.

ANALYSIS: They disagree about how we should judge the adequacy of a moral theory. Laurel believes that extreme cases are the most important test of a moral theory’s usefulness, while Miriam believes that everyday applicability is what matters.

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1. Neither of them says that moral theories must provide solutions to all possible dilemmas – Laurel focuses on extreme cases, while Miriam prioritizes common cases.
2. This is out of scope. Neither of them addresses historical trends.
3. CORRECT. Laurel would agree with this, but Miriam disagrees and believes a theory can still be useful so long as it’s applicable to a wide range of common cases.
4. This suggests that we need different moral theories for different situations, but that’s not what their arguments are about.
5. The argument isn’t about whether a theory based on extreme cases would be inadequate for common cases – it’s about whether a moral theory needs to handle extreme cases to be valid at all.