LSAT 109 | Section 4 | Logical Reasoning: Q19

LR Question 19 Explanation

QUESTION TEXT: Speaker: Contemporary business firms need to recognize…

QUESTION TYPE: Weaken

CONCLUSION: A business should act responsibly if it wants to hold power as long as it can.

REASONING: Anyone that society think is irresponsible will eventually lose power.

ANALYSIS: This is a good question. The conclusion is that you should not act irresponsibly. The reasoning says that you’ll lose power if you seem irresponsible.

It’s a classic, subtle LSAT distinction. A business might hold power if it made people think it was acting responsibly.

___________

1. No one cares about the government. We’re talking about businesses.
2. CORRECT. If this is true then businesses could act irresponsibly but seem responsible. Then the Iron Law of Responsibility wouldn’t apply.
3. This is very vague. “Some” could mean this only applies to 1-2 institutions. And maybe those are religious/political institutions, and not businesses.
4. The argument never said responsible businesses would be immortal. They will just live longer than irresponsible businesses. This answer doesn’t help prove that businesses can survive just as long by being irresponsible.
5. The argument didn’t say that irresponsibility was the only way to lose power. Presumably businesses have to make money, for example.

Recap: The question begins with “Speaker: Contemporary business firms need to recognize”. It is a Weaken question. Learn how to master LSAT Weaken questions on the LSAT Logical Reasoning question types page.