LSAT 109 | Section 3 | Logical Reasoning: Q12

LR Question 12 Explanation

QUESTION TEXT: Some people claim that the reason herbs are not…

QUESTION TYPE: Method of Reasoning

CONCLUSION: Doctors can’t recommend herbs because of the regulatory process. [It is not true that doctors don’t recommend herbs because they think they are ineffective.]

REASONING: Herbs are unlikely to be offered for sale as drugs, because they cannot be patented.

ANALYSIS: The stimulus shows a competing conclusion “doctors don’t prescribe herbs because they don’t like them.” The author then argues against this competing conclusion by giving another reason why doctors don’t prescribe herbs.

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1. CORRECT. The argument disagrees with the claim that doctors don’t think herbs are effective. It says that the regulatory process is to blame instead. 
2. To do this the stimulus would have had to examine what doctors thought of herbs. But the stimulus didn’t investigate that.
3. The reasoning for the claim that doctors don’t like herbs is not mentioned. The argument merely presents the conclusion, then gives another explanation.
4. The stimulus definitely didn’t do that. There are many, many possible reasons why doctors might not prescribe herbs.
5. The stimulus is disagreeing with a theory rather than testing it scientifically.