LSAT 136 | Section 2 | Logical Reasoning: Q24

LR Question 24 Explanation

QUESTION TEXT: Had the party’s economic theories been sound and had…

QUESTION TYPE: Flawed Parallel Reasoning

CONCLUSION: The economic theories were wrong.

REASONING: If the theory was right AND the program was implemented, inflation would have decreased. Inflation increased.

ANALYSIS: We can only conclude that the theory was wrong OR the program was not implemented.

The argument hasn’t shown that inflation increased due to bad ideas and not poor implementation.

T AND P ➞ I

I ➞ T OR P

___________

1. This is a good argument. Since the architecture didn’t change, both sufficient conditions for architectural change must be false.
   I OR CC ➞ AC      AC ➞ I AND CC
2. This is close. It’s possible the workers thought that the party simply wouldn’t win. But, and here’s the difference, it’s also possible that the workers are lying when they promise they won’t strike. This would only have been correct if we had been told the election was over and the workers didn’t strike.
3. CORRECT. This ignores the possibility that the company didn’t buy the patent.
   S AND P ➞ Stock increase
   Stock Increase ➞ S OR P
4. This makes a sufficient-necessary error, which is different. The argument gives us two sufficient conditions for the people to support the rebels. But it’s possible that the citizens supported the rebels for another reason. There can be multiple sufficient conditions for any necessary condition.
5. This is a good argument. It uses the contrapositive to show that the sufficient condition wasn’t present.
   WI ➞ A AND R
   A ➞ WI  (We don’t know if ratings changed)