LSAT 150 | Section 2 | Logical Reasoning: Q1

LR Question 1 Explanation

QUESTION TEXT: Philosopher: I have been told that most university students…

QUESTION TYPE: Flawed Reasoning

CONCLUSION: It’s false that university students have no interest in philosophy.

REASONING: The students at my philosophy talks are deeply interested in philosophy.

ANALYSIS: The philosopher makes a sample bias error. His conclusion is about “all students” but his evidence is only about students at philosophy talks. Of course they would be interested in philosophy! But that tells us nothing about what other students think.

___________

1. This didn’t happen.
    
   Example of flaw: I am interested in money. So clearly, me getting money is in the public interest.
2. CORRECT. This matches. The larger group is “all students”. The group is “students at a philosophy talk”. The reason they may be unrepresentative is that you would assume students at a philosophy talk are interested in philosophy.
3. This is a different flaw.
    
   Example of flaw: Students enjoy taking basket weaving, so basket weaving must be an academically valuable course.
4. This is a different flaw.
    
   Example of flaw: I don’t see any signs that the ship is sinking, even though we hit an iceberg. So, the Titanic must be floating even higher in the water!
5. This didn’t happen. The philosopher didn’t say whether any particular interest was good or bad.
    
   Example of flaw: And since I am interested in philosophy, it is morally good that students are too.

Recap: The question begins with “Philosopher: I have been told that most university students”. It is a Flawed Reasoning question. Learn how to master LSAT Flaw questions on the LSAT Logical Reasoning question types page.