LSAT 130 | Section 1 | Logical Reasoning: Q11

LR Question 11 Explanation

QUESTION TEXT: Recent studies indicate a correlation between damage

QUESTION TYPE: Flawed Reasoning

CONCLUSION: Damage to chromosome 6 has no effect on adult schizophrenia.

REASONING: Damage to chromosome six is neither necessary nor sufficient for schizophrenia.

ANALYSIS: Here’s a similarly dumb argument: “Some people are stabbed, and they don’t die. And some people die without having been stabbed. So clearly, knives can’t hurt humans.”

Not every cause always leads to a result. It’s possible that chromosome damage can cause schizophrenia, but doesn’t always do so.

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1. CORRECT. If this is true, then that explains how some people with chromosome 6 damage didn’t get schizophrenia: they had the wrong type of damage.
2. The author never said if there are other causes, or not. They imply there might be, by mentioning that some cases of schizophrenia occur despite there being no chromosome six damage.
3. This is a different flaw:
   Example of flaw: This person is schizophrenic, and has fantasies of being king. Therefore, all schizophrenics have fantasies of being king.
4. This is a different flaw.
   Example of flaw: Rain causes wetness. Today is rainy, so that rain must have been caused by wetness.
5. This is a different flaw.
   Example of flaw: Schizophrenics often eat toast. So schizophrenia is caused by toast.