#6 - We should do what will make others more virtuous and not

[Administrator]

Complete Question Explanation

Must Be True. The correct answer choice is (C).

Answer choice (A):

Answer choice (B):

Answer choice (C): This is the correct answer choice.

Answer choice (D):

Answer choice (E):

This explanation is still in progress. Please post any questions below!

[jlam061695]

Can someone please check my diagram for this question? I initially picked B, but after going back and doing it, I ended up with A. The correct answer choice is C.

D (we should do something) MV (that will make others more virtuous) + P (praise) LV (make less virtuous)

D (we should not so something) LV (that will make others less virtuous) + P (praise) MV (make more virtuous)

MV DP (only the more virtuous deserve praise)

Even though I chose A initially, I was stuck between A and B because they seemed like the same answer choice, just worded differently (maybe that's why I should have realized that there can't be two "right" answers and crossed them both out). Is C correct because it ties the last premise (only the more virtuous deserve praise) with the premises other two premises? And is the "irony" in the stimulus that even though the more virtuous people are the only people that deserve praise, they also "suffer" from more praise because praise decreases their virtuousness?

[David Boyle]

Can someone please check my diagram for this question? I initially picked B, but after going back and doing it, I ended up with A. The correct answer choice is C.

D (we should do something) MV (that will make others more virtuous) + P (praise) LV (make less virtuous)

D (we should not so something) LV (that will make others less virtuous) + P (praise) MV (make more virtuous)

MV DP (only the more virtuous deserve praise)

Even though I chose A initially, I was stuck between A and B because they seemed like the same answer choice, just worded differently (maybe that's why I should have realized that there can't be two "right" answers and crossed them both out). Is C correct because it ties the last premise (only the more virtuous deserve praise) with the premises other two premises? And is the "irony" in the stimulus that even though the more virtuous people are the only people that deserve praise, they also "suffer" from more praise because praise decreases their virtuousness?

Hello jlam061695,

As for the diagramming, it could be modiied to some of the following things: DMV (do promote more virtue), slash DLV (avoid doing things which create less virtue). P (praise) (MV LV) (make the more virtuous into the less virtuous), P (praise) (LV MV) (make the less virtuous into the more virtuous).
"MV DP (only the more virtuous deserve praise)" should be rendered the other way around, "DP MV".
Answers A and B are not exactly the same answer, although they are both wrong in similar ways, e.g., each misses the irony that you should be praising the baddies and not praising the goodies!
As for "Is C correct because it ties the last premise (only the more virtuous deserve praise) with the . . . other two premises?", yes.
As for "And is the "irony" in the stimulus that even though the more virtuous people are the only people that deserve praise, they also "suffer" from more praise because praise decreases their virtuousness?[/quote]", it seems that that is part of the irony.

Hope this helps,
David

[jlam061695]

David,

Thanks for your reply. I just have a question about one of the premises. Why is it "DP MV" instead of "MV DP"? Doesn't the word "except" indicate a necessary condition? Rephrased, wouldn't the premise state: "The more virtuous deserve praise"? Or should it be "Only the more virtuous deserve praise," thereby making the "only more virtuous" part a necessary condition? I thought there were some cases that the word "only" could indicate a sufficient condition.

[Jonathan Evans]

Jlam,

You are correct that "except" generally introduces a necessary condition, and it does in this instance:

"none except the more virtuous deserve praise"

"Except" precedes "more virtuous." Therefore, "more virtuous" is the necessary condition. "Deserves praise" is the sufficient condition.

DP MV

Be wary of veering off into exercises of rephrasing conditionals using constructions other than the standard "if... then..." because you can wade into a minefield that way.

You would not rephrase this statement as "the more virtuous deserve praise." Rather you could write: "Those who deserve praise are more virtuous."

Your construction "Only the more virtuous deserve praise" is correct.

"Only" can introduce a sufficient condition with the syntax "the only" as in "The only people who deserve praise are more virtuous." This is because the word "people" refers to those who are more virtuous, a condition necessary to deserve praise.

Look, Jlam, don't complicate this unnecessarily for yourself. Start by recognizing the conditional language. Then ask yourself if something is required for something else. If you can't get an answer that way, ask if something is enough to guarantee something else. Try to deal with these conditionals without resorting to mechanistic translations of phrases you've memorized. Stick with "if... then..." and explain them to yourself in an easily accessible manner.

What's the requirement here? Gotta be more virtuous. What's that a requirement for? Deserving praise.

DP MV

[akanshalsat]

Could someone go over how to approach this question, Unfortunately I'm not following the discussion above, this question was a little difficult because the last sentence says that none except the MORE virtuous deserve praise, so how can C be correct? I chose B.

[nicholaspavic]

Hi akansha,

Your question about "approach" is a little harder for me to answer because this is fairly straightforward, conditional Must Be True - Principle question. The approach that people are discussing above is the correct diagramming of the sentences in order to better understand the conditional logic (it's contrapositives and chain relationships, etc) This diagramming approach is contained in our LR study materials and classes. As Jonathan notes, the "except" clause introduces the necessary in one of our sufficient and necessary conditionals. I hope this helps, but I am not sure what you are really asking for hep on with this problem?

Please let us know if you have a follow up question?

[dshen123]

If none except the more virtuous deserve praise then why should we praise those who don’t deserve it?

[Jeff Wren]

Hi dshen,

First, it's important to understand that you need to simply follow the logic of the statements in the stimulus and not worry about what would make sense in the "real world."

The stimulus starts by giving us two general rules about what we should and should not do. Specifically, we should do things that make people more virtuous and not do things that make people less virtuous. These rules should seem fairly straightforward and even make sense in the "real world."

The next sentence of the stimulus provides an "irony," or surprising fact, that praising people who are less virtuous actually has a positive outcome of making them more virtuous. According to our rule, therefore, we should praise these less virtuous people. On the other hand, praising people who are already more virtuous actually has a negative outcome of making them less virtuous. This time, according to our rule, we should not praise these more virtuous people. To be clear, this seems completely contrary to what would make sense in the "real world." In the real world, we'd expect to praise people who are more virtuous, not less virtuous, but that's not what our rule tells us to do here.

The final sentence of the stimulus states that only the more virtuous deserve praise. Now the concept of who "deserves" praise is not the same as who we "should" praise. (As Clint Eastwood's character in the movie Unforgiven would point out, "deserves got nothing to do with it.")

Putting everything together, the stimulus tells us that we should praise less virtuous people (because it will make them more virtuous, which is a good thing) even though those people don't actually deserve praise and not praise more virtuous people (because it will make them less virtuous, which is a bad thing) even though those people actually do deserve praise.

Answer C captures this sentiment. This answer is counter-intuitive, meaning that it seems like the opposite of what would make sense in the real world. The LSAT often has counter-intuitive right answers on Must Be True questions because these answers "sound" wrong in the real world, so test takers would be unlikely to pick them unless they actually understood the reasoning in the stimulus.