LSAT 102 | Section 4 | Logical Reasoning: Q17

LR Question 17 Explanation

QUESTION TEXT: Concerned citizen: The mayor, an outspoken critic of…

QUESTION TYPE: Flawed Reasoning

CONCLUSION: We can’t afford not to repair the town hall.

REASONING: No reasoning is given for how the town can get the money to repair town hall and meet its other commitments.

ANALYSIS: The citizen and the mayor mean different things when they say “afford”. The mayor means “we don’t have the money”, the citizen means something like “it would be a sin not to save town hall.”

___________

1. There’s nothing wrong with an emotional appeal. There are many things we do that are important for emotional reasons. Emotional appeals are only a problem if we ignore other considerations.
2. CORRECT. The mayor means we don’t have the money. The citizen ignores this argument, and uses a different meaning for “afford”: it’s of supreme importance to repair town hall.
3. Wha? The citizen is arguing against the mayor.
4. Everyone agrees that repairs would be expensive, especially the mayor.
5. The mayor says “outdated”, and that means he agrees the building needs repairs. And likewise, the mayor says luxury: he means we have more important priorities.
    
   The mayor isn’t making the argument.

Recap: The question begins with “Concerned citizen: The mayor, an outspoken critic of”. It is a Flawed Reasoning question. Learn how to master LSAT Flaw questions on the LSAT Logical Reasoning question types page.