LSAT 144 | Section 2 | Logical Reasoning: Q8

LR Question 8 Explanation

QUESTION TEXT: Merton: A study showed that people who live on very…

QUESTION TYPE: Method of Reasoning

ARGUMENTS: Merton said that air pollution causes the higher rates of heart disease found on busy streets.

Ortiz points out that there could be other causes, such as lifestyle factors specific to those who live on busy streets.

ANALYSIS: Ortiz makes a good point. There are usually multiple plausible explanations for any phenomenon. To conclude that one thing is a cause, we must rule out other causes.

Ortiz’s method is therefore just pointing out that Merton hadn’t eliminated alternative causes.

Note that Ortiz doesn’t attack the study. Ortiz seems to agree that heart disease is more common on busy streets. The dispute is about why it happens, not whether it happens.

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1. Ortiz didn’t question the study. Presumably, Ortiz agrees that those on busy streets have more heart disease. The question is: why?
2. Ortiz didn’t say this! Ortiz proposed lifestyle factors as an alternate cause. Lifestyle factors are things like “eating more junk food”.
3. Ortiz didn’t say anything about the study. They appear to agree that the correlation found in the study is true.
4. Ortiz didn’t state a counterexample.
   Example of method: You say pollution is the cause. But here is a busy street that only has bicycle and foot traffic. So there’s no pollution, yet heart disease is just as high. Therefore pollution can’t be the cause.
5. CORRECT. This is exactly what Ortiz does. They suggest lifestyle factors as an alternate cause. That is an indirect way of saying that Merton failed to rule out alternate causes.