LSAT 84, Logical Reasoning I, Q6, LSATHacks

LR Question 6 Explanation, by LSATHacks

QUESTION TEXT: John’s literature professor believes that the ability to judge…

QUESTION TYPE: Must be True

FACTS:

1. Judge greatness of literary works ➞ years of specialized training
2. Literature professor ➞ years of specialized training
3. Public (most) ➞ years of specialized training

ANALYSIS: We can combine the third statement with the contrapositive of statements 1 and 2. We get:

Public (most) ➞ years of specialized training ➞ literature professor AND judge greatness of literary works

Or, put in plain English: “Most of the public will be unable to be a professor or judge the greatness of literary works. This is because they don’t have access to the necessary specialized training.”

___________

1. This isn’t true. We only know that John’s professor has a necessary condition for judging the greatness of literary works. (The professor has specialized training)
2. This isn’t true. The stimulus only said that specialized training is necessary for judging literary works. This training also happens to be a necessary condition for being a professor, but that doesn’t mean that being a professor has anything to do with judging works.
   E.g. You need to breathe to be a lawyer, and you need to breathe to be an artist. But that doesn’t mean you need to be a lawyer to be an artist (or vice versa). The only thing lawyer/artist have in common is that they share a necessary condition.
3. When an answer says “should”, it is making a moral claim. The stimulus only talked about what is true, not what should be true.
4. This doesn’t follow. We could say that most members of the public aren’t professors, but some of them could be. Most doesn’t mean all.
5. CORRECT. This follows. See the analysis above. Most of the public lacks the specialized training that would let them judge the greatness of literature.

Recap: The question begins with “John’s literature professor believes that the ability to judge”. It is a Must be True question. Learn more about LSAT MBT questions in our guide to LSAT Logical Reasoning question types.

Hi, I'm Graeme Blake

Founder of LSAThacks; I scored a 177 on the LSAT.

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