LSAT 143 | Section 1 | Logical Reasoning: Q22

LR Question 22 Explanation

QUESTION TEXT: Food co-ops are a type of consumer cooperative…

QUESTION TYPE: Flawed Reasoning

CONCLUSION: Food co-ops are cheaper than supermarkets.

REASONING: Food co-ops are a type of co-op. Co-ops tend to be cheaper than other stores.

ANALYSIS: This question makes a sort of whole-to-part flaw. It applies a tendency to every individual within a group.

On the whole, consumer co-ops are cheaper. But that doesn’t mean that every type of co-op is cheaper. It’s possible that food co-ops are more expensive on average.

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1. This actually is a correct argument, assuming that people who own sports cars drive about as much as others, on average. More gasoline per miles * same number of miles = more gas usage.
2. This is a different flaw. It ignores an obvious reason people might prefer fresh vegetables: they taste better.
3. CORRECT. This matches. Public transit, on average, causes less pollution than private transport. But, a bus will cause some pollution, whereas a bicycle essentially causes none.
   So even though bicycles are private transport, they don’t share the average quality of private transport.
4. This is a different flaw. We could correctly conclude that people are eating more healthful food than before. The flaw here is assuming that any extra purchases of healthful food will automatically happen at health food stores.
5. This is a different flaw. It’s like saying “The best way to avoid being drunk is to drink lots of beer, because beer has less alcohol than vodka and alcohol causes drunkenness”.
   It’s stupid reasoning but it fails to match the stimulus.