LSAT 136 | Section 4 | Logical Reasoning: Q22

LR Question 22 Explanation

QUESTION TEXT: Meerkat “sentinels,” so-called because they watch for…

QUESTION TYPE: Flawed Reasoning

CONCLUSION: The meerkat sentinels are altruistic and not entirely self-interested.

REASONING: The sentinels bark as they run for cover, alerting the other meerkats to the danger.

ANALYSIS: The argument said that meerkat sentinel behavior is motivated by altruism.

That means that when they bark, they do it in order to warn other meerkats.

But the argument hasn’t proven why they bark. The sentinels might bark out of fear. The barks would have the effect of helping other meerkats, but that doesn’t mean the barks are intended to help.

___________

1. The fact that the sentinels give a warning does provide some support to the conclusion. The bark doesn’t obviously help the sentinel. It helps other meerkats.
   The only problem is that we don’t know why they bark.
2. This is code for circular reasoning. But the argument does have some evidence of altruism: the sentinels bark.
3. CORRECT. The bark could just be a yelp of fear. The bark might not be designed to help other meerkats, even if it does have that effect.
4. The argument didn’t say that sentinels are entirely altruistic. It just said they are motivated at least in part by altruism.
5. This is a different error. It’s like saying ‘Facebook will not survive ten years, because it hasn’t been proven that it will survive ten years’, without offering any evidence that Facebook will fail. Here, the author did offer some evidence that sentinels are altruistic.