LSAT 104 | Section 4 | Logical Reasoning: Q7

LR Question 7 Explanation

QUESTION TEXT: If you know a lot about history, it will be easy for…

QUESTION TYPE: Flawed Reasoning

CONCLUSION: You can’t impress intellectuals if you don’t know about history.

REASONING: You can impress intellectuals if you do know about history.

ANALYSIS: This is a terrible argument. There are other ways to impress intellectuals, apart from knowing history.

Many intellectuals are impressed by Olympic athletes, for example.

This flaw is mistaking something that is (mostly) sufficient for impressing intellectuals for something that is necessary for impressing intellectuals.

___________

1. So? Intellectuals might be impressed by historical knowledge, even if they aren’t widely read.
2. No one said that every historian is interesting. Even if something is easy, people can fail.
3. No one said what’s important. The argument only talked about what’s possible.
4. CORRECT. This is a gaping flaw in the argument. The conclusion is saying that you can never impress intellectuals without knowing history, even if you’re rich, famous, beautiful, funny, powerful, know physics, etc.
5. The argument isn’t talking about impressing people who aren’t intellectuals, so they don’t matter.

Recap: The question begins with “If you know a lot about history, it will be easy for”. It is a Flawed Reasoning question. Learn how to master LSAT Flaw questions on the LSAT Logical Reasoning question types page.