LSAT 133 | Section 1 | Logical Reasoning: Q18

LR Question 18 Explanation

QUESTION TEXT: Principle: Even if an art auction house identifies the…

QUESTION TYPE: Principle – Strengthen

PRINCIPLE: An opinion in an art catalogue is misleading if the opinion was a deliberate attempt to mislead bidders.

APPLICATION: Healy’s did say that all descriptions were opinions. And the opinion was incorrect.

(What we are missing is something that tells us the opinion was deliberately designed to mislead.)

ANALYSIS: We need something that tells us about Healy’s motives for writing the opinion. It’s the only missing piece of the principle.

The correct answer doesn’t say they hoped to mislead, but it strongly implies the opinion was included only for profit and therefore may have been knowingly misleading.

___________

1. This tells us what consequences the incorrect opinion could have had for bidders. It doesn’t tell us why Healy’s gave an incorrect opinion.
2. This tells us that the bidders were skeptical. It doesn’t tell us why Healy’s mis-described the vase.
3. This shows that the opinion went against that policy. But it’s not clear if this was a mistake or a deliberate attempt to mislead.
4. “Some” is very vague and could mean just a single employee. For examples, this answer could mean that the janitor has a strong opinion about whether descriptions should be certified. This answer doesn’t tell us whether the description was intended to mislead.
5. CORRECT. This shows that Healy’s was only interested in profit. It doesn’t tell us that they knew they were lying; we don’t know if Healy’s knew the vase was a modern reproduction. But this shows sloppiness at the least and misrepresentation at worst. It’s the strongest answer choice.