LSAT 110 | Section 3 | Logical Reasoning: Q17

LR Question 17 Explanation

QUESTION TEXT: Zoologist: Animals can certainly signal each other…

QUESTION TYPE: Necessary Assumption

CONCLUSION: The fact that animals can signal to each other with sounds and gestures does not prove that they can use language.

REASONING: We don’t know if animals can use sounds or gestures to refer to concrete objects or abstract ideas.

ANALYSIS: The argument assumes that a language can only refer to concrete objects or abstract ideas.

___________

1. It’s only necessary that animal don’t know how to communicate those ideas. 
2. It doesn’t matter if an animal can entertain (think about) abstract ideas. It only matters if they can communicate those ideas to other animals. 
3. This is tempting, but it isn’t necessary. The key is that the zoologist said we can’t prove that animals use language. So animals could be referring to abstract ideas. We just can’t prove that they are. 
4. CORRECT. If a system of sounds or gestures could be a language even without reference to objects or abstract ideas then maybe we could prove that animals can use language. 
5. The argument would be stronger if this weren’t true, since the argument claims we can’t prove if any animals can use a language.