LSAT 158 | Section 2 | Logical Reasoning: Q22

LR Question 22 Explanation

QUESTION TEXT: Devan has never bothered to be kind to me …

QUESTION TYPE: Flawed Parallel Reasoning

CONCLUSION: Devan is my enemy.

REASONING: He doesn’t meet the criteria for friendship.

ANALYSIS: Has this person ever heard of an acquaintance or … a stranger?

A person doesn’t have to be your friend or your enemy. They could be neither.

Generally, you can summarize the argument as: X isn’t true, so Y must be true – with Y being an opposite extreme that ignores other possible alternatives.

The correct answer will match this structure.

___________

1. This argument makes a different mistake. It concludes Evelyn isn’t an officer, but only rules out 2 out of 3 possible ways to become an officer.
2. This argument is fine. It explains why the plant isn’t healthy.
3. CORRECT. Just because there are no hostile reviews doesn’t mean all critics loved the book. It makes the same mistake: no evidence for one extreme -> concludes the opposite extreme.
4. This isn’t flawed. Developing the northern part implies developing other areas is fine, so other such developments might happen. The conclusion is modest.

5. Not the flaw here. This is an invalid negation of a conditional statement:

   • If everyone were creatives -> society crash
   • Most people are not creatives -> society will not crash