LSAT 126 | Section 4 | Logical Reasoning: Q19

LR Question 19 Explanation

QUESTION TEXT: Professor: It has been argued that freedom of thought is…

QUESTION TYPE: Sufficient Assumption

CONCLUSION: Freedom of thought is not a precondition for intellectual progress.

ANALYSIS: As in all sufficient assumption questions, this argument is incomplete. We must find a way to link the premises to the conclusion.

We know that intellectual progress requires discipline. If we could show that freedom of thought and discipline are incompatible, then we could correctly reach the conclusion.

___________

1. The stimulus does say thinkers need to consider interrelated ideas, but repeating this doesn’t help us reach our conclusion. We need a link to freedom of thought.
2. This doesn’t help us reach our conclusion, as there’s no stated link between freedom of thought and a society valuing intellectual progress. We would need to know that a society which values intellectual progress will not have freedom of thought.
3. CORRECT. Freedom of thought No intellectual discipline, which means we can’t make intellectual progress. This establishes the conclusion.
4. This sounds nice, but if anything it argues against our conclusion. We’re arguing against freedom of thought.
5. The contrapositive of this is: “Freedom of thought guarantees intellectual discipline.” Oops….We’re trying to prove that idea wrong.

Recap: The question begins with “Professor: It has been argued that freedom of thought is”. It is a Sufficient Assumption question. Learn how to master LSAT Sufficient questions on the LSAT Logical Reasoning question types page.