LR Question 10 Explanation
QUESTION TEXT: Science journalist: Europa, a moon of Jupiter, is…
QUESTION TYPE: Flawed Reasoning
CONCLUSION: It is likely that primitive life has evolved on Europa.
REASONING: A necessary condition for life exists on Europa. (liquid water)
ANALYSIS: Necessary conditions don’t tell you anything! Here are some necessary conditions for going to law school:
- Being human
- Applying to law school
- Breathing
- Knowing how to read
Those are not very useful necessary conditions! Telling me that a candidate fulfills them doesn’t help prove the candidate will go to law school.
Likewise, knowing that there is water on Europa doesn’t tell us life occurred. We need a sufficient condition or a statement of probability in order to have evidence life occurred. At the very least we should rule out all other necessary conditions.
___________
- Actually, this is true. If a condition is necessary for life, then life couldn’t evolve without it. This is not a flaw!
- CORRECT. Water is one necessary condition for life. But there could be 1,000 other necessary conditions. The author incorrectly assumes water is the only necessary condition.
- Rubbish. The argument didn’t do this! There’s no distinction between life being present on Europa and life evolving on Europa. And “if but only if” is just thrown in because it’s confusing.
Answers have to prove they’re right. Don’t give nonsensical answers the time of day. - The argument didn’t overlook this possibility! It said “life as we know it” could only evolve with liquid water. The author wasn’t talking about water being a necessary condition for all life.
- The author didn’t do this! They said the data “strongly suggest” that liquid water is present. And then their conclusion appropriately only says “likely”. So the author isn’t saying water is definitely present and life definitely evolved.
Recap: The question begins with “Science journalist: Europa, a moon”. It is a Flawed Reasoning question. To practice more Flawed Reasoning questions, have a look at the LSAT Questions by Type page.
More Resources for Flaw Questions
- Flaw drills: Use these to practice making examples of abstract flaws.
- Intro Course lesson: This intro course lesson covers Flaw questions.
- Mastery Seminar lesson: This LR Mastery seminar lesson covers flaw questions.
Graeme,
A question about dealing with “life as we know it”. I have seen this concept come up several times in my studyies and I always worry that LSAC is going to equivocate on me with when they say “life as we know it” and follow that up later in the stimulus with simply “life” (but really meaning all life, even as we don’t know it). Should I just assume them to be shortening “life as we know it” to “life” and not worry about equivocation? Your thoughts?
In a case like this, it’s fair to assume that even if the wording changes a little, the same meaning is being conveyed. We use “life” and “life as we know it” interchangeably in everyday usage; “life as we know it” is really just a short way of saying that there’s a possibility that there are aspects of the fundamental building blocks of life on Earth and other planets that are beyond our current understanding.
You’re able to make common sense assumptions like the one above on the LSAT. And, for the most part, a word (or phrase’s) usage on the LSAT won’t significantly differ from its everyday usage. What’s important is remaining open to the possibility that sometimes a more rare definition of a word will be used, and that sometimes a subtle shift in a phrase used throughout a stimulus can indicate a change in meaning from the initial phrase.
How can there be two correct answer choices? I understand how both are correct but am confused on how to choose one over the other.
What do you mean? B is the only correct answer.