LSAT 152 | Section 1 | Logical Reasoning: Q14

LR Question 14 Explanation

QUESTION TEXT: Pratt: Almost all cases of rabies in humans come from being bitten …

QUESTION TYPE: Weaken

CONCLUSION: It doesn’t make sense for health warnings to urge the removal of bats from buildings.

REASONING: Bats rarely bite humans, and most bats don’t have rabies.

ANALYSIS: Rabies is serious and usually transmitted through animal bites. Bats can carry rabies. But bats rarely bite, and most bats don’t have rabies. So Pratt thinks warnings to remove bats are unjustified.

But is low frequency enough to make the risk insignificant?

Let’s say out of 100 bats, only 3 have rabies. What if those 3 bats do bite humans? I’d certainly want any bat gone from my surroundings.

If we can show that when bats do have rabies, they behave very differently, we undermine the reasoning that “bats rarely bite”. That’s answer B.

___________

1. This might support Pratt by suggesting that humans are relatively unlikely targets.
2. CORRECT. Pratt relies on bats rarely biting people. But if rabid bats (the ones we care about) are much more aggressive, they may be much more likely to bite. That would make the warnings justified.
3. This is too broad – we don’t know if bats are included in the “most animals.”
4. Similar to A. It may slightly strengthen Pratt’s argument by suggesting that the risk of getting rabies in buildings isn’t very high.
5. Awareness of bites doesn’t tell us anything about the risk of bites in the first place.