LSAT 20, Logical Reasoning II, Q1, LSATHacks

LR Question 1 Explanation, by LSATHacks

QUESTION TEXT: Critic: People today place an especially high value on…

QUESTION TYPE: Necessary Assumption

CONCLUSION: It isn’t surprising that disrespectful comedy is popular.

REASONING: Comedy can work well when it disrespects people who didn’t live up to their ideals.

ANALYSIS: The argument is implying that people don’t mind disrespectful comedy if the targets deserve it. The argument is therefore assuming at least some targets of disrespectful comedy deserve
to be mocked.

___________

1. This doesn’t matter. People might normally believe respect is important, but make an exception for disrespectful comedy.
2. The argument doesn’t say there are no other successful types of comedy.
3. The argument says it isn’t surprising that disrespectful comedy is popular. So why would the argument have to assume that many people hate that kind of comedy?
4. CORRECT. If everyone lives up to their ideals then nobody can be an effective target of disrespectful comedy.
5. It doesn’t matter whether people fail their ideals more or less than in the past. The argument doesn’t say anything about the past.

Recap: The question begins with “Critic: People today place an especially high value on”. It is a Necessary Assumption question. Learn how to master LSAT Necessary questions on the LSAT Logical Reasoning question types page.

Hi, I'm Graeme Blake

Founder of LSAThacks; I scored a 177 on the LSAT.

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