LSAT 149 | Section 3 | Logical Reasoning: Q19

LR Question 19 Explanation

QUESTION TEXT: Business owner: Around noon in one section of the city…

QUESTION TYPE: Principle – Justify

CONCLUSION: The bill to ban food trucks from metered parking should be rejected.

REASONING: There’s lots of parking in most areas of the city, and not much congestion. (The food truck problem is only in one section of the city. The proposal is to ban all food trucks from parking in any commercial area of the city)

ANALYSIS: The business owner makes the argument that only a small part of the city is affected. So we should look for a principle that says not to make a law for the whole city if the law is only needed in specific areas.

___________

1. This answer doesn’t support the business owner. He was saying food trucks should be able to park. This answer could only support the idea that they shouldn’t be able to park. (It’s drawn as “not valuable ➞ not use resource”, which has “not use” as the necessary condition. We can only conclude necessary conditions).
   Further, the stimulus didn’t say whether the trucks provide value, so it’s not even clear if this applies.
2. This supports the view of the city council. They were trying to stop the problem citywide, even though it’s currently only in one area. We’re trying to support the business owner’s view that the law shouldn’t pass.
3. We have no idea whether the proposal has been thoroughly studied, so this doesn’t let us conclude anything. (If we did know it wasn’t properly studied, then this would support the argument not to pass it.)
4. CORRECT. This says “Not affect most areas AND would hurt businesses all over the city ➞ Do not use”
   Both the sufficient conditions were met in the stimulus, and it lets us conclude we shouldn’t pass the law. That’s also what the business owner was arguing, so this supports his argument.
5. This does say “should not implement”, which is what we want. But….what’s the problem that would be aggravated? The only problems mentions are lack of parking and congestion. The proposal does seem like it would reduce both problems. (The city currently doesn’t have a “food trucks can’t park” problem, so the law isn’t aggravating any existing problem by banning them)

Recap: The question begins with “Business owner: Around noon in one section of the city”. It is a Principle Justify question. Learn how to master LSAT Principle Justify questions on the LSAT Logical Reasoning question types page.