LSAT 149 | Section 3 | Logical Reasoning: Q13

LR Question 13 Explanation

QUESTION TEXT: Science cannot adequately explain emotional phenomena…

QUESTION TYPE: Sufficient Assumption

CONCLUSION: Human emotions aren’t physical things.

REASONING: Science (physics, chem, neuro) can’t explain human emotions.

ANALYSIS: On sufficient assumption questions you just have to place the evidence on the left and the conclusion on the right:

Human emotions ➞ science explain Physical phenomenon

So we have to fill the gap. The right answer could either be:

Physical phenomenon ➞ science explain

science explain ➞ physical phenomenon

Note that the stimulus treats “physics, chemistry, or neurophysiology” as a synonym for science. So you have to treat an answer that says “science” as saying “physics, chemistry, or neurophysiology” and vice versa.

___________

1. This is the right answer except backwards. It should have said “not explained by science ➞ not physical phenomenon”. That’s because we’re trying to conclude “not physical phenomenon”, so it has to be the necessary condition.
    
   Example of error: Anyone with a pet is happy, because pets are cute. Pet ➞ cute happy
    
   Correct answer would say: cute ➞ happy
   This answer would say: happy ➞ cute
2. “Felt by only one subject” isn’t in the stimulus, and it’s debatable whether it applies. For example, suppose you are waiting for a flight with 100 other people, and then the flight is cancelled. Presumably, many people there will feel frustrated.
   So this is something that is something the stimulus says science cannot explain and yet, unlike this answer, the frustration is felt by more than one person.
   In any case, this answer is definitely wrong because it doesn’t help us connect to “not a physical phenomenon”, which is what we’re trying to prove.
3. So? It doesn’t matter if the three sciences use similar methods or not. The point is that none of them can explain human emotions.
4. This should have said “emotional ➞ not physical”. Instead, it reads (in contrapositive) “Not emotional ➞ physical”. That doesn’t work! Human emotions need to be the sufficient condition.
   When a statement has the form “not A ➞ B”, you can have both A and B together. It’s a “at least one or the other, and possibly both” statement. So this answer allows something to be both emotional and physical.
   e.g. Suppose I say “. You’ll be picked up at the airport. If your dad doesn’t pick you up at the airport, your mom will”. In such a situation, you wouldn’t be surprised to see both parents at the airport, right? The purpose of the statement is to say that someone will be there to meet you, but it could be both.
5. CORRECT. This says “physical ➞ explained by science”. So the contrapositive is: “not explained by science ➞ not physical”. That matches up with our evidence, and lets us conclude that human emotions aren’t physical: “emotions ➞ not explained by science ➞ not physical”

Recap: The question begins with “Science cannot adequately explain emotional phenomena”. It is a Sufficient Assumption question. Learn how to master LSAT Sufficient questions on the LSAT Logical Reasoning question types page.