LSAT 158 | Section 3 | Logical Reasoning: Q25

LR Question 25 Explanation

QUESTION TEXT: A government is justified in interfering with a person’s action…

QUESTION TYPE: Principle

PRINCIPLE: Government interference with an action is justified when:

1. Action increases risk of physical harm to others, and
2. Action is not motivated by desire to help others.

ANALYSIS: Principle application questions are pretty simple – we have to apply the principle and see if it lines up. Here, remember that both of the requirements are necessary.

The correct answer will be a situation where the government is justified to act and the two criteria are met.

___________

1. This might seem right, but is actually an incorrect negation. We know that the government is justified if they are met. But it’s possible that there is another way for the government to be justified that we don’t know about. So we can’t say for sure that the government is unjustified.
2. This does not conform to the principle, as there is no physical harm here.
3. This does not conform to the principle – we haven’t been told that the motorcyclist is not motivated by a desire to help others. Additionally, the potential harm is to the motorcyclist, not to others.
4. Here we have criteria 2 – the corporation is not trying to help others. But we don’t know that it increases the risk of physical harm to others.
5. CORRECT. We are told that the speech would likely cause people to get hurt (1) and that the speech was furthering Jill’s own political ambitions (2). So the principle has been applied properly.

Recap: The question begins with “A government is justified in interfering with a person’s action”. It is a Principle question. Learn how to master LSAT Principle questions on the LSAT Logical Reasoning question types page.