LSAT 138 | Section 4 | Logical Reasoning: Q25

LR Question 25 Explanation

QUESTION TEXT: A law is successful primarily because the behavior it…

QUESTION TYPE: Method of Reasoning

CONCLUSION: Laws are successful because the behavior they require is customary.

REASONING: People obey manners because they have been trained to. Likewise, we are trained by repeat action that laws are things we must obey.

ANALYSIS: Why don’t you burp with your mouth open? Is it because you will have severe social problems? Probably not. The real reason is that you consider open mouthed belching “impolite”. It’s just not done. At least, not if you were raised not to. So it’s perhaps habit, not consequences, that prevents you from belching.

The same occurs with laws. If you were raised to be law abiding, then you tend to obey the law because that’s your habit. At least, this is the argument the stimulus makes.

This is an unusual question type. I’m not sure I’ve seen it elsewhere. It’s basically asking “what did the argument say”? But it’s most like a Method of Reasoning question, so that’s how I classed it.

___________

1. The point of the argument is about why we obey laws and manners. Variance wasn’t mentioned.
2. The argument was about why we obey laws, not how we choose them.
3. CORRECT. The argument said exactly this.
4. The argument didn’t mention ethics.
5. Ridiculous. The argument didn’t say this! You know from common sense that many laws have strict penalties, and the author didn’t say anything to contradict this.