LSAT 9 | Section 2 | Logical Reasoning: Q4

LR Question 4 Explanation

QUESTION TEXT: Data from satellite photographs of the tropical rain forest …

QUESTION TYPE: Weaken

CONCLUSION: The drop in deforestation is due to the government’s increased enforcement.

REASONING: Deforestation decreased and the government enforced laws more aggressively.

ANALYSIS: This is a causal argument. To weaken it, we need something that shows that the decline in deforestation might have happened for a reason other than enforcement.

So, the correct answer will introduce an alternative explanation other than government enforcement.

___________

1. This tells us there was pushback, but it doesn’t explain why deforestation decreased. It might even strengthen the idea that enforcement was serious.
2. CORRECT. If it rained a lot, people couldn’t burn as much forest, regardless of government enforcement. So the drop in deforestation could be due to weather, which weakens the conclusion.
3. Sure, violations still happened and enforcement was active. But this doesn’t tell us why the overall deforestation rate declined.
4. Tempting, but not quite. This introduces uncertainty about the data’s accuracy, but it doesn’t directly explain the drop or give us a competing cause.
5. This might suggest enforcement wasn’t as strong as claimed, but the government’s claim is that what was spent worked.