Conditional statements in an argument and/or fact set

[Stephanie Oswalt]

We recently received the following question from a student. An instructor will respond below. Thank you!

Hi,

I am struggling to understand the role of conditional statements in an argument and/or fact set. Is a conditional statement a premise that is also considered to be a rule and this rule is used to help support a conclusion in an argument?

Also, in a MBT question if conditional reasoning is present in the fact set and the correct answer is a contrapositive or a repeat. Are we being tested solely on our ability to understand the meaning of the rule?

Thank you!

SA

[Francis O'Rourke]

A conditional statement or rule can be presented either as a premise or as a conclusion. Additionally, a speaker may use one conditional statement as a premise to support a conditional conclusion.

In every case, you will need to evaluate which information the speaker used as support for the conclusion. Indicators such as thus, therefore, for this reason, etc... may help us in this task. However, indicator words for sufficient and necessary conditions, such as when and only, do not indicate premises or conclusions.

As for your second question, if the question is exactly as you present it, then that seems to be one skill that the question is testing you on. However, there are lots of small ways that the LSAT can play around with conditionals, which is not simply limited to restatements and contrapositives. We can help you out better if you gave us an example of what you are describing.