Discussion
Chemical-company employee: A conservation group’s study of the pollutants released into the environment by 30 small chemical companies reveals that our company and four other companies together account for 60 percent of the total. Clearly, our company releases more pollutants than most chemical companies similar to us in size. Which one of the following is an assumption required by the employee’s argument?
*This question is included in June 2013 LSAT (PT69): Logical Reasoning A, question #4
| (A) | The conservation group that produced the study is not hostile to the chemical industry. |
| (B) | ... |
| (C) | ... |
| (D) | ... |
| (E) | ... |
| (F) | ... |
The solution is
Posted: 09/02/2013 17:45
I don't get it...this section isn't my strong suit...any advice?
Posted: 09/06/2013 12:04
Hi, Emily -
This is a "hidden assumption" question. Questions of this type present you with an argument that sounds superficially plausible, but which is invalid unless some additional unstated assumption is true. Your job is to identify which of the five answers articulates the assumption.
In this case, the problem is with the premise, "our company and four other companies together account for 60% of the total." This sounds very bad, but in fact tells us nothing at all about our company's output of pollutants. To see this, suppose that our company magically produces no pollutants at all. Can the premise still be true? Sure it can -- if the other four together produce the entire 60%. The conclusion depends on the hidden assumption that our share of the 60% is significant. Only answer [D] articulates this.
(Note that the argument also depends on the assumption that the study is accurate; however, none of the answers articulates this assumption. [A] might seem to indirectly do so, but does not: the presence or absence of hostility toward the industry as a whole does not directly bear on the accuracy of statistics.)
Hope this helps! Please post again if you still have questions.
Best,
Lyn
This is a "hidden assumption" question. Questions of this type present you with an argument that sounds superficially plausible, but which is invalid unless some additional unstated assumption is true. Your job is to identify which of the five answers articulates the assumption.
In this case, the problem is with the premise, "our company and four other companies together account for 60% of the total." This sounds very bad, but in fact tells us nothing at all about our company's output of pollutants. To see this, suppose that our company magically produces no pollutants at all. Can the premise still be true? Sure it can -- if the other four together produce the entire 60%. The conclusion depends on the hidden assumption that our share of the 60% is significant. Only answer [D] articulates this.
(Note that the argument also depends on the assumption that the study is accurate; however, none of the answers articulates this assumption. [A] might seem to indirectly do so, but does not: the presence or absence of hostility toward the industry as a whole does not directly bear on the accuracy of statistics.)
Hope this helps! Please post again if you still have questions.
Best,
Lyn