LSAT 155 | Section 4 | Logical Reasoning: Q22

LR Question 22 Explanation

QUESTION TEXT: The universe as a whole necessarily tends toward greater …

QUESTION TYPE: Parallel Flawed Reasoning

CONCLUSION: The earth’s biosphere must have always been moving toward increased disorder.

REASONING: Although it appears the biosphere is not moving toward increased disorder, the universe as a whole necessarily tends toward disorder.

ANALYSIS: The author is saying that the universe is tending toward disorder, so the biosphere must be also. This is a whole-to-part flaw. Something that is true of the whole is not always true of the parts of that whole. Maybe the biosphere is an island of order in an otherwise increasingly disorderly universe.

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1. CORRECT. This is the same flaw. The author assumes that because the system is one of the most beautiful systems, then Wooded Lake must be one of the most beautiful lakes.
2. This is the same pattern of reasoning up until the conclusion. The arguments in the stimulus and the correct answer both make a certain conclusion, but this answer choice only says a given day was likely to be cold.
3. This isn’t the same error. This argument says that because each deck has some cargo, that all the decks must be devoted to cargo. This is obviously silly, but not the same flaw.
4. This is not the same because a premise is different. Here, we know that every individual person in Hopper’s crew is shown to be in the grain area. This means that Hopper must also have been there.
    
   To be the same flaw, this would have to change to something like “records show Hopper’s cleanup crew was assigned to the grain area”.
5. This argument is a part-to-whole argument. Two critical parts are unsafe, so the assembly is unsafe. This is the inverse of the argument in the stimulus.

Recap: The question begins with “The universe as a whole necessarily tends toward greater “. It is a Flawed Parallel Reasoning question. Learn more about LSAT Flawed Parallel questions in our guide to LSAT Logical Reasoning question types.