Counter Premise:: Should i ignore it!!

[utpalbarman]

Hi,
The LR Bible says: Counter Premise is not integral to author arguments structure.

So does that mean i can ignore the Counter Premise. Is the LSAT author using Counter Premise as a Trap if not what Role does it play in the stimuli and understanding of the stimuli .
Also any Answer Choice referring to Counter Premise should be ignored if its a trap?

Thanks
utpal

[Jonathan Evans]

Hi, Utpal,

While counter-premises do not provide evidence directly to support the conclusion, they remain an important part of the structure of arguments in that they anticipate possible objections to the author's conclusion so that she may address them in advance. Therefore, no, you should not disregard counter-premises. Instead, use them to help yourself follow the author's train of thought. Indeed, by anticipating objections and addressing them, the author can strengthen her argument. The counter-premise itself is the objection or weakening factor. A subsequent statement addressing the counter-premise could strengthen the argument.

Consider the example in the Logical Reasoning Bible, page 34. The driver argues that he does not deserve a rate increase. The premise is that he has been in no accidents. The counter-premise is that he does in fact speed repeatedly.

Notice that this author does not adequately address his proclivity for speeding, but in your analysis you certainly could think of ways to strengthen the argument (e.g. "data indicate speeding is not correlated with accidents") or weaken it (e.g. "speeding often correlated with other dangerous driving behavior").

Thus, use counter-premises to improve your ability to follow the reasoning in arguments. They can be quite helpful.

In addition, Method of Reasoning questions sometimes ask about counter-premises. To use the example above, a question might ask, "what role does the statement about admittedly disregarding the speed limit play in the argument?"

The correct answer could be something like, "It is a consideration the author believes does not refute his main conclusion."

In re your last question, no you should not automatically eliminate answer choices that refer to counter-premises. Such an answer choice may be just what you're looking for, depending on the question asked. For example, on a weaken question, an answer choice that refers to a counter-premise may exploit this counter premise to make the argument worse.

I hope this helps!