LR Question 2 Explanation
QUESTION TEXT: Principle: If you sell an item that you know to be…
QUESTION TYPE: Principle – Flawed Reasoning
CONCLUSION: Wilton committed fraud.
REASONING: Wilton didn’t know whether the bicycle was good, but he said it was. If you know something is not good and say it is good, then you commit fraud.
ANALYSIS: Wilton was just reckless. For all he knew, the bicycle might have been good; he just got unlucky. It would only have been fraud if Wilton was sure the bicycle wasn’t good.
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- Why would Wilton have tried to fix the brakes if he got the chance? He didn’t know there was anything wrong with them.
- Fraud is a flexible word. Fraud can be worth $1 or $1,000,000,000.
- Defective is clear both times. It means: not working.
- You can commit fraud even if the other person doesn’t believe you. The principle doesn’t say anything about the buyer’s belief.
- CORRECT. Lying means saying something you definitely know is false. Wilton just took a risk. As far as he knew, the bike could have been fine.
More Resources for Principle Questions
- Intro Course lesson: This intro course lesson covers Principle questions.
- Mastery Seminar lesson: This LR Mastery seminar lesson covers principle questions.
Why is what Wilton did “… asserting something without JUSTIFICATION?” Who is to say that what he did is not justified?
There’s a difference between “asserting something without justification” vs. “doing something not justified”. The first one means: doing something when you lack good reasoning. The second one means doing something bad.
English is pretty subtle, and it’s a good idea to check some of these words in a dictionary and read about all of their meanings. I don’t mean this in a patronizing way, I constantly check the dictionary myself. This resolves a LOT of difficulty on the LSAT.
Wilson didn’t know whether the bike was good or not, so they had no proof (no justification) that it was good. Whether you call that morally bad is another question. But it certainly isn’t fraud under most definitions.
Note: This is an old comment but I wanted to clarify the point.