LSAT 128 | Section 3 | Logical Reasoning: Q6

LR Question 6 Explanation

QUESTION TEXT: Melchior: Some studies have linked infants’ consumption of …

QUESTION TYPE: Flawed Reasoning

CONCLUSION: Parents should feed cow’s milk formula to their infants.

REASONING: Cow’s milk provides nutrients that are important to infants’ development.

ANALYSIS: Melchior dismisses the concern that cow’s milk formula has been linked to diabetes. Instead, he focuses on the benefit that it provides good nutrients. But even if cow’s milk formula has important nutrients, this does not mean it is the best or safest option.

What if alternatives provide the same benefits without the risk of diabetes? (e.g. breastfeeding or another type of formula)

___________

1. CORRECT. Maybe the risk of diabetes is exclusive to cow’s milk formula, but the important nutrients are present in many types of milk. In that case, parents should definitely not use cow’s milk formula.
2. This describes circular reasoning, which is not what’s happening here. An example of this would be something like “Cow’s milk formula is good for infants because infants benefit from it.”
3. This would mean that the argument makes value judgments (for example “cow’s milk is morally superior”). That’s not happening here.
4. This describes a straw man fallacy, where someone misrepresents an opposing view and then refutes the misinterpretation. An example of this would be if he distorted the study to say that “some people claim cow’s milk formula is poison to babies.”
5. This describes a situation where someone assumes that if there is no proof for one position, the opposite must be true. This is not what Melchior does. He simply ignores evidence of harm and focuses on the benefits.