LSAT 158 | Section 2 | Logical Reasoning: Q9

LR Question 9 Explanation

QUESTION TEXT: Scholar: The purpose of a law is to deter certain actions …

QUESTION TYPE: Role in Argument

CONCLUSION: A successful legal system only bans truly intolerable behavior.

REASONING:

• Laws are supposed to deter (prevent actions by threatening punishment).
• Deterrence only works if people believe they’ll actually be punished.
• The more laws you have, the less likely it is someone will be punished.

ANALYSIS: The question is asking what role the first sentence plays in the argument. It’s setting up a starting principle about the purpose of laws, which the rest of the argument builds on.

Information in a stimulus can be categorized into 3 things: conclusion, reasoning, and fluff.

It’s not the conclusion. It’s also not fluff (background context that doesn’t specifically play into the argument).

It’s reasoning or a premise. Those two words are generally synonymous.

___________

1. There was no implicit conclusion about needing more police officers.
2. Nope, the conclusion is the main point they’re getting at, which is that you should limit the number of laws.
3. CORRECT. It’s a starting premise that the rest of the reasoning depends on.
4. An intermediate conclusion derives from other claims, but this statement is our starting point.
5. The author agrees with and presents this statement, they’re not trying to discredit it.