Pseudo-sufficient Assumption
Lawyer: one is justified in accessing information in computer files without securing athorization from the computer's owner only if the compuer is typically used in the operation of a buisness. If, in addition, there exists resonable grounds for believing that such a computer contains data usable as evidence in a legal proceeding against the computer's owner, then acess the data in those computer files wihtout hte owners is justified.
Application: Police department investigators accessed the elctronic accounting files of the central computer owned by a consulting firm that was on trial for fraudulent buisness practices without seeking permission from the firm's owners. Contrary to the investigators' reasonbale beliefs, however, the files ultimately provided no evidence of wrongdoing. nevertheless, the investigators' action was justifed.
One should not play a practical joke on someone if it shows contempt for that person or if one believes it might bring significant harm to that person.
Because of the circumstances, it would be wrong for me to play the practical joke I had intended to play on you. Even though it would not show contempt for anyone, it could easily bring you significant harm.
Louise McBride, a homeowner, filed a complaint against a nearby nightclub through the Licensing Bureau, a government agency. Although regulations clearly state that form 283 is to be used for formal complaints, Bureau staff gave McBride Form 5, which she used with the intention of filing a formal complaint. The nightclub argues that the complaint should be dismissed because the incorrect form was used. But that would be unfair.
It is unfair for someone's complaint to be dismissed because of an incorrect action on the part of a government agency. Why: This matches. Louise's mistake was due to the government agency's error. This answer lets us conclude that we shouldn't reject her complaint on account of that.
Columnist: Although most people favor the bill and the bill does not violate anyone's basic human rights, it will not be passed for many years, it at all; nor will any similar bill. Those people who would be adversely affected were it to become law are very influential. This shows that, if this country is a democracy at all, it is not a well-functioning one.
PSA: A bill that most people favor will be passed promptly into law in a well-functioning democracy if the bill does not violate anyone's basic human rights. Why: ou need to show that those facts justify the moral judgment. So we need an answer that says one of the following: Well functioning ➞ pass into law if benefits and no violations within a few years NOT pass into law if benefits and no violations within a few years ➞ NOT well functioning Be very precise. Two wrong answers sound good, but have the wrong timeline.
Many high school students interested in journalism think of journalism careers as involving glamorous international news gathering. But most journalists cover primarily local news, and the overwhelming majority of reporters work for local newspapers. thus, high school career counselors should tell students who are interested in journalism what life is like for a typical reporter, that is, a reporter for a local newspaper.
PSA: A career counselor should try to disabuse students of any unrealistic conceptions they may have about the likely consequences of choosing a particular career. Why: The argument says we should tell these kids the truth. Why would someone think that is a good idea? They must believe something like "if you can correct a mistaken impression, you should".
Treat training consists of rewarding dogs with edible treats whenever they respond appropriately to commands. Most dogs will quickly learn what they need to do to receive a treat, so this appears to be an effective training method. However, most dogs who have been treat-trained will not obey commands unless they are shown a treat. Since you cannot always have treats on hand, you should instead use praise and verbal corrrection to train your dog.
PSA: A dog should be trained to respond to a stimulus that its owner can supply in all situations. Why: This supports the idea not to use treats. Since aren't available in all circumstances, we shouldn't use them.
Principle: Any person or buisness konwingl aiding someone's infringement on a copyright is also guilty of copyright infringement Appliation grandview department store, which features a self-service photo-printing kiosk, is guilty of copyright infrignment since a customer using the kiosk infrined on a wedding photographers copyright by rpinting photographs whose copyright is held by the photography.
PSA: A person or buisness providing a service that can be expected to be used to infrigne on a copyright should be considered to knowingly aid any copyright infringer using the service. Why: This suggests the store can be considered to have knowingly aided their customers' infringement. You might have said "but this answer doesn't say the store should have expected a self serve kiosk could be used for copyright infringement". 1. This is just a "most helps to justify" question. Wiggle room is allowed. 2. C'mon, it's a self-serve kiosk. Literally everyone would agree it could easily be used for infringement, so that's an assumption you can and must make when evaluating this answer
Because dried peat moss, which is derived from sphagnum moss, contains no chemical additives and is a renewable resource, many gardeners use large amounts of it as a soil conditioner in the belief that the practice is environmentally sound. They are mistaken. The millions of acres of sphagnum moss in the world contribute more oxygen to the atmoshpere than do all of the world's rain forests combined, and the garden soil industry is depleting these areas muchfaster than they can renew themselves.
PSA: A practice is not environmentally sound if it signifcantly reduces the amount of oxygen entering the atmosphere.
Judge: the defendant admits noncompliance with national buidling codes but asks that penalties not be imposed becuuse he was confused as to whether national or local building codes applied to the area in which he was building. The excuse might be acceptable had he been charged with noncompliance with local codes, but since he is charged with noncompliance with national codes, his excuse is unacceptable
PSA: Any behavior required by national codes is also required by local codes. Why: The judge implies that ignorance of the law would have been an excuse if the code had been local. You need to find a reason why that would have been ok, or why violating national codes is inexcusable. The right answer shows that anything in national codes is also in local codes. So the defendant was aware he was breaking the law no matter which code applied. I'll explain with an example. Suppose that Hawaii has it's own criminal code. The only new law is that you can't wear funny hats. Every other federal law is also a crime. You're on a small island. Not sure if it's part of hawaii or the mainland US. You can't be sure if you're allowed to wear a funny hat. You don't know which code applies. You can be sure murder is wrong. That's true whichever code applies.
The government should not fund any part of its health services with lottery revenue. These health services are essential to our community, but lottery revenue could decline at some time in the future, leaving the government scramblign to make up a bdget shortfall.
PSA: Essential governemtn services must be funded from reliable sources of revenue. Why: If this weren't true, then the argument wouldn't make sense. The only reason lottery funding is unsuitable for health care is because health care is essential.
Critic: the criticism of the popular film comedy Quirks for not being realistic is misguided. It is certainly true that the characters are too stylized to be real people. That could be problematic, but in this case the resulting film is funny. And that is the important thing for a comedy.
PSA: Films are successful if they succeed within their genre. Why: This already sounds like a pretty good argument. We can strengthen it by showing that a comedy film shouldn't be criticized as long as it succeeds as a comedy.
Because no other theory has been able to predict it so simply and accurately, the advance of the perihelion of Mercury is somtimescited as evidence in support of Einstein's theory of general relativity. However, this phenomenon was already well known when einstein developd his throy, and he quite probably adjusted his equations to generatet the correct numbers for the perihelion advanced. Therefore, accounting fo rthis advance should not be counted as evidence in support of Einstein's theory.
PSA: If a theory is adjusted specifically to account for some particular phenomenon, a match between that theory and that phenomenon should not count as evidence in favor of the theory. Why: Einstein probably did adjust his theory to account for the perihelion. So this shows that we shouldn't count the perihelion as evidence for his theory.
Essayist: it is much less difficult to live an enjoyable life if one is able to make lifestyle choices that accord with one's personal beliefs and then see those choises accepted by others. It is possible for people to find this kind of acceptance by choosing friends nd associates who shrae many of their personal belifs. Thus, no one should be dnied the freedom to choose the people with hom he or she will associate.
PSA: If having a given freedom could make it less difficult for someone to live an enjoyable life, then no one should be denied that freedom.
Some people see no harm in promoting a folk remedy that in fact has no effect. But there is indeed harm: many people who are convinced to use an ineffective emedy contnue with it for years rather than pursuing conventional treatments that woudl almost certainly help them.
PSA: It is harmful to interfere with someone doing something that is likely to benefit that person.
Doctor: it is wrong for medical researchers to keep research confidential, even if the companies for which they work would rather that they do so. If research results are not shared, the development of effective medical treatments may be delayed
PSA: Medical researchers should not keep information confidential if it is possible that sharing that information would prevent some unnecessary human suffering. Why: It's definitely possible that withholding info causes suffering. This principle tells us that it's wrong to allow that possibility.
Well-intentioned people sometimes attempt to resolve the marital problems of their friends. But these attempts are usually ineffectual and thereby foster resentment among all parties. Thus, even well-intentioned attemps to resolve the marital problems of friends are usually unjustified.
PSA: No actions based on good intentions unless they also result in success.
Anyone believing that no individual can have an effect on society's future will as a result feel too helpless to act to change society for the better. Thus, anyone who wants to improve society should reject the belief that its future will be determined entirely by vast historical forces that individuals are powerless to change.
PSA: No one who wants to imporve society should accept any belief that makes him or her feel to helpless to act to change society for the better. "If you think individuals are powerless, then you'll turn into a helpless loser and you won't accomplish anything. Therefore you shouldn't believe that individuals are powerless." Notice the word "should" in the conclusion. On the LSAT, you can never prove that something "should" happen unless you have a premise that says what you "should" do. So we need a "should" statement that links the premise and the conclusion. Like this: "If something makes you a helpless loser, then you shouldn't believe it."
Even though MacArthur's diet book helped many people lose weight, MacArthur should not have published it. It recommended such small portions of fruits and vegetables that it undoubtedly damaged the health of many who followed the diet. MacArthur is a physician, so MacArthur either knew or should have known that diets low in fruits and vegetables are unhealthful.
PSA: One should not publish a book recommending a particular course of action if one either knows or ought to know that taking that course of action would be unhealthful. Why: MacArthur ought to have known that his advice would harm people's health. According to this, he shouldn't have published.
Dried parsley should never be used in cooking, for it is far less tasty and healthful than fresh parsley is.
PSA: Only the tastiest ingredients should ever be used in cooking. Why: This is a good argument for using fresh parsley rather than dried parsley. But the conclusion says that dried parsley should never be used in cooking. That doesn't make sense. Maybe dried parsley should be used if there is no fresh parsley available. To support the conclusion, you need a reason that you shouldn't use dried parsley in cooking, ever.
Principle: If the burden of a proposed policy change would fall disporportionately on people with low incomes, that policy change should not be made. Application: the city of centerburg plans to reintroduce rock salts as a road de-icing agent, after having stopped its use several years ago on the grounds that it accelerated the corrosion of automobiles. Although the city claims that cars are now better protected from salt's corrosive properties than they were even as recently as five years ago, the city's plan should be halted.
PSA: People with low incomes are more likely to purhcase older vehicles than are people with higher incomes. Why: You need to find some way that this law hurts the poor. Maybe the poor have cars that are much more likely to be corroded.
Art Critic: The woerner journalism award for riticism was given to Nan paulsen for her reviews of automobiles. This is inappropriate. The criticism award should be given for criticism, which Paulsen's reviews clarly were not. After all, cars are utilitarian things, not works of art. And objects that are not works of art do not reveal important truths about the culture that produced them .
PSA: Reviews of objects cannot appropriately be considered to be criticism unless the objects reveal important truths about the culture that produced them.
Government official: Although the determinism of local residents to build hiking trails recently devasted by a landslide indicates that they are strongly committed to their community, the government should not assist them in rebuilding. The reason is clear: there is a strong likelihood of future landslides in that location that could cause serious injury or worse.
PSA: The government should not assist in projects that are very likely to result in circumstances that could lead to serious injury. Why: This proves the conclusion. We know that there is a risk of serious injury from landslides. This tells us that the government therefore shouldn't assist in trail building.
Letter to the editor; You say that if the government were to confiscate a portion of the wages of convicted burglars when they reenter the workforce, it would be a form of stealing, hence an abuse of power. Yet under the proposal now being considered, the governmetn woudl confiscate such wages in order to fund an account to compesnate burglary victims. So even if confiscating a portion of burglars' wages were a form of stealing, it would still be justifed.
PSA: The motive prompting an action determines whether or not that action is justified. Why: The government program has a good motive. This answer shows that the motive is relevant. To be clear, this isn't a sufficient assumption, it just strengthens the argument.
Archaeologist: the mosaics that were removed from zeugma, the anciety now flooded by rnoff from turkey's birecik dam, should have been left there. we had all the information about htat that we needed to drawarchaeological conclussions, and futher archaeologists studying the site, who may not have acess to our records, might be misled by their absence.
PSA: The only consideration that bear upon the question of whether the mosaics should have been removed are archaeological. Why: The archaeologist is very self-centered. There might have been other, non-archaeological reasons to take the mosaics. Maybe it would be nice to let people look at them in a museum. The correct answer eliminates all non-archaeological reasons. If we're only considering archaeological reasons, then the archaeologist is right.
Principle: The executive in a given company whose compensation package is determined by advice of an external consultant is likely to be overcompensated if the consultant also has business interests with the company the executive manages.
PSA: The president of Troskco Corporation is probably overpaid, since the Troskco board of directors determined his compensation by following the advice of an external consultant who has many other contracts with Troskco. Why: This follows the principle exactly
A company that imports and sells collectibles sought to have some of its collectible figurines classified as toys, which are subject to lower import tariffs than collectibles. The company argued that the figurines amuse customers, just as toys do. However, the government agency responsible for tariffs rejected the company's request on the grounds that the figurines are marketed as collector's items rather than toys. Which one of the following principles, if valid, most helps to justify the government agency's decision?
PSA: The tariff classification of an item should depend primarily on how the item is marketed. Why: The figurines were marketed as collector's items. This tells us to therefore classify them as collector's items.
Jewel collectors, fearing that their eyes will be deceived by a counterfeit, will not buy a diamond unless the dealer guarantees that it is genuine. But why should a counterfeit give any less aesthetic pleasure when the naked eye cannot distringuish it from a real diamond? Both jewels should be deemed of equal value.
PSA: The value of a jewel should derive solely from the aesthetic pleasure it provides.
Consumer advocate: TMD, a pesticide used on peaches, shows no effects on human helath when it is ingested in the amount present in the per capita peach consumption in this country. But while 80% of the population eat no peaches, others, including small children, consume much more than the national, and thus ingest disproportionately large amounts of TMD. So even though the use of TMD on peaches proses minimal risk to most of the population, it has not been shown to be an acceptable practice.
PSA: Use of a pestice is acceptable only if it is used for its intended purpose and the pesticide has been shown not to harm any portion of the population. Why: The advocate has shown that we don't know if TMD is harmful to certain segments of the population. So we need a principle that says we shouldn't do something unless we know it's safe. Or that we shouldn't do something that may harm a segment of the population.
Principle: people should buy an expensive antique only if they can be confident of its authenticity and they find the piece desireable for its intrinsic qualities and not just for its value as an investment. Application: Matilde should not buy the expensive antique vase offered for sale on the internet.
PSA: While matilde likes the color and features of the vase, its paricular style has frequently been reproduced for the mass market, and vase cannot be examined closely or authenticated over the internet.
Principle: Even if an art auction house identifes the descriptions in its catalog as opinoins, it is guilty of misreprestation if such descripotion is a deliberate attempt to mislead bidders. Application: Although Healy's, an art auction house, states that all desciptions in its catalog are opinions, healy's was guilty of misrepresntation when its catalog described a vase as datign from the mid-eighteenth century when it ws actually a modern reproduction.
PSA: Without consulting anyone with expertise in authenticating vases, healty's described the vase as dating form the mid-18th century merely in order to increae its auction price. Why: We need something that tells us about Healy's motives for writing the opinion. It's the only missing piece of the principle. The correct answer doesn't say they hoped to mislead, but it strongly implies the opinion was included only for profit and therefore may have been knowingly misleading.
Censor: all anarchist novels have two objectionable charachteristics: a subversive outlook and the depiciton of wholsale violence. Therefore, it is permissible to ban any anarchist novel that would do more hrm than good to society.
PSA: it is permissible to ban a novel that would cause society more harm than good if the novel has two or more objectionable characteristics. Why: This argument is missing a step. We know anarchist novels might cause problems. That doesn't necessarily mean we should ban them. For example, maybe it's wrong to ban books, no matter what's wrong with it. That's actually a principle in many societies, including ours (for the most part). To support the argument, we need to show that it's permissible to ban books.
One child pushes another child from behind, injuring the second child. The first child clearly understands the difference between right and wrong, so what was done was wrong if it was intended to injure the second child.
PSA: it is wrong for a person who understands the difference between right and wrong to intentionally harm another person. Why: We need a principle that actually tells us that it's wrong to push someone, if: You intend harm, and You know the difference between right and wrong.
A computer game publisher has recently released its latest adventure game. The game's inventive puzzles and compelling plot induce even casual players to become preoccupied with completing it. The game can be purchased from retail outlets or rented for two day intervals. The publisher offers a rebate equal to the cost of one retnal for renters who go on to purchase the game, saving them a significant ortion fo the purchase price. Since the rate of sales now meets expectations and rentals are exeeding expectations, the publisher predicts that soon sales of the game will also exceed expectations.
PSA: it take sseveral weeks for most players to complete the game. Why: We need to know how long it takes to complete the game. If you can do it in two days, then renters won't need to buy the game. If it takes longer than two days, then renters will get hooked and want to buy.
Literaru critic: there is little of social significance in contemporary novels, for readers cannot enter the internal world of the novelist's mind unless they experience that world from the moral perspective. But in contemporary novle,s the transgressions committed by some characters against others are sensationlistic spectacles whose only purpose is to make readers wonder what will happen next, rather than eents whose purpose is to be seen as the injustices they are.
PSA: novels have social significance only to the extent that they allow readers to enter the internal world of the novelist's mind. Why: 've simplified the reasoning/conclusion to make the gap more obvious. The main gap is between the conclusion and the evidence. The conclusion says modern novels have no social significance. But nothing in the evidence says what makes a novel lack social significance. I quickly skimmed through the answers and saw only C, D and E mentioned social significance, and only E linked social significance to evidence from the argument (e.g. getting into the mind of novelists). There are other, smaller gaps in this argument. For instance, we don't know that sensationalism prevents you from seeing the moral perspective of characters. But that's a small gap compared to the utter lack of evidence about lack of social significance. I didn't think much about this potential gap without first checking if any of the answers addressed the major gap, social significance.
Principle: anyone who has more than one overdue book out on loan from the library at the same time must be fined if some of the overdue books are not children's books and that person has previously been fined for overdue books. Application: Since three of the book that kessler currently has out on loan from the library are overdue, kessler must be fined.
PSA: one of the overdue books that kessler currently has out on loan from the library is a novel for adults, and kessler was fined last year for returning this book late.
Problem: if shayna congratulates Daniel on his award, she will misrepresent her true feelings. However, if shayna does not congratulate Daniel, she will hurt his feelings. Principle: one should never be insincere about one's feelings, except possibly where one believs that the person with whom one is speaking would prefer kindness to honestly. The P justifies which one of the following arguments?
Shayna has no opinion about whether daniel would prefer kindness to honest, so she should not congratulate.
Letter to the editor: when your newspaper reported the (admittedly extraordinary) claim by Mr. Hanlon that he saw an alien spaceship, the tone of your article was very skeptical despite the fact that Hanlon has over the years proved to be a trusted member of the community. If hanlon claimed to have observed a rare natural phenomenon like a large meteor, your article would not have been skeptical. So your newspaper exhibits an unjustifed bias.
The argument in the letter conflicts with which one of the following principles: if a claim is extraordinary, it should not be presented uncritically unless it is backed by evidence of an extraordinarly high standard.
The constituion of Country F requires that whnever the government sells a state owned entity, it must sell that entity for the higest price it can comman on the open market. The constition also requires that whenever the governmetn sells a state-owned entity, it must ensure that citizens of coutnry F will have majority ownership of the resulting compnay for at least one year after the sale. Country F must violate at least one of the constitutional requiments described above if it is faced with which one of the following situations?
The governmetn will sell staterail, a state owned-railway. The governmetn must place significant restriction on who can purchacase statrail to ensure that citizens of country F will gain majority ownership. However, any such restrctions will redice the price of the governent recieves for stateraile.
The quantity and type of pollution that entered the river last Thursday night suggests that the local auto repair shop is responsible. But the penalty for this type of pollution is so severe that, unless stronger evidence is discovered or the perpetrator admits responsibility, we cannot be sufficiently certain of the identity of the polluter to justify imposing the penalty.
The more severe the penalty for an infraction is, the more certain one must be of the guilt of a party before being justified in imposing the penalty on that party. Why: This matches what the stimulus said. The penalty is severe, so this answer tells us that we should wait for stronger evidence.
Biologist: researchers believe that dogs are decendants of domesticated wolves that were bred to be better companions for humans. It has recently been found that some breeds of dog are much more closely related gentically to wolves than to most other breeds of dog. This shows that some dogs are descended from wolves that were domesticated much more recently than others.
Underlying Principle: If one breed of dog is more closely related to wolves than to another breed of dog, then the former breed of dog has more recent undomesticated wolf ancestors than the latter breed has. Why: The conclusion says that some dogs were more recently domesticated. The evidence is that these dogs are more closely related to wolves, genetically. The argument assumes that if a dog is more closely related genetically, then the domestication must be more recent. This is a hard argument, and frankly, most of the answers are nonsense. Focus on understanding the relationships in the stimulus.
