LSAT 129 | Section 2 | Logical Reasoning: Q12

LR Question 12 Explanation

QUESTION TEXT: Criminologist: The main purpose of most criminal organizations

QUESTION TYPE: Sufficient Assumption

CONCLUSION: Criminal organizations will get involved in biotech.

REASONING: Criminal organizations want profits. Biotech has profits.

ANALYSIS: This is a silly argument, but no matter. Our job is to fix it.

The flaw is assuming that criminal organizations will get involved in any activity that generates profits. That’s ridiculous. Their purpose is profits, but that doesn’t mean they’ll involve themselves in every profitable sector. That’s spreading yourself thin.

But we’re supposed to fix the argument. So if we say that the mafia will get involved in any industry that promises profits, then we can say that the mafia will get involved in biotech.

I didn’t draw this when I solved it. I tried making a drawing for this explanation, but I couldn’t easily fit things into a diagram. If a drawing is too hard to do, I don’t bother making one. The purpose of diagrams is to make your life easier, not harder.

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1. This gets things backwards. It tells us what makes an organization interested in profits. That’s useless. We already know that criminal organizations want profits.
2. There are two problems here. First, we don’t know if awareness is necessary for getting involved, or guarantees getting involved. (People can do things without being consciously aware of the reasons.)
   Second, this only says “some” organizations, whereas the conclusion is about criminal organizations in general.
3. This sounds very promising, but look closely at the conclusion. It says criminal organizations will become “increasingly” involved in biotech.
   This answer says that criminal organizations are already involved, due to the profits. So now we have no reason for thinking that criminal organizations will get even more involved. Profits were the only possible motive, and now this answer says criminal organizations have already accounted for profits.
4. CORRECT. Criminal organizations have profits as their purpose. This answer tells us that those organizations will increase their involvement in any industry that promises profits. And biotech promises profits.
   So we can conclude that criminal organizations will try to get more involved in biotech.
5. “Willing” doesn’t cut it. You may be willing to do many things you’ll never end up doing. We need an answer that says criminal organizations are actually going to become involved.