LSAT 23 | Section 2 | Logical Reasoning: Q9

LR Question 9 Explanation

QUESTION TEXT: Every action has consequences, and among the…

QUESTION TYPE: Necessary Assumption

CONCLUSION: Good actions are not possible.

REASONING: We can never know if an action will be good.

ANALYSIS: The argument never explains why we need to know that actions are good. Presumably actions can be good, even if we can’t prove it.

I’ll give an example. Suppose you win the lottery. Most people would think that’s good. It probably will be good for you. But you can’t be sure. Maybe all of your friends will become jealous. Maybe your family will try to steal your money.

We can’t know whether winning the lottery was good without seeing the consequences.

But that doesn’t change whether winning the lottery is a good thing for you. It could be good, but you just don’t know yet.

___________

1. This doesn’t matter. The argument’s point was that every action will have actions as consequences. It’s impossible to predict the future consequences of actions. Other possible consequences aren’t relevant.
2. The argument is assuming we can’t know any actions are good, even past actions.
3. No one talked about an action being bad, or not doing an action.
4. This is similar to A. The argument didn’t say anything about consequences that weren’t actions. They don’t hurt the argument if they’re there, but they’re not necessary to the argument either.
5. CORRECT. There’s a difference between something being good, and knowing that its good. If something can be good without us knowing about it, then this is a bad argument.

Recap: The question begins with “Every action has consequences, and among the”. It is a Necessary Assumption question. Learn how to master LSAT Necessary questions on the LSAT Logical Reasoning question types page.