#23 - Politician: Nobody can deny that homelessness is a

[jcough346]

Struggling with the conditional language of the stimulus and whether diagramming is necessary here. The "only if" portion threw me off and I couldn't settle on necessary vs sufficient. Not only that, with the clock running all the answer choices began to look the same.

[Kristina Moen]

Hi jcough,

Glad you're asking this now vs. wondering about it on test day! "Only if" always indicates a necessary condition. "If" on its own indicates a sufficient condition, but the word "only" overthrows it! To recap:
Only = Necessary Condition Indicator
If = Sufficient Condition Indicator
Only If = Necessary Condition Indicator

Try this question again and diagram the stimulus and answer choices. Let us know what you think.

[Randyamstad]

Hello there,

I'm having some trouble working through the distinction between the answer choices. I had both C and A remaining as contenders, and eventually chose A incorrectly. Was hoping to check here and ensure that I had a correct understanding of why I missed it before I let it go. Is the distinction between the two choices as simple as A being a mistaken reversal of choice C, or am I entirely off base?

Appreciate the forum and the time, thank you!

[Eric Ockert]

Hi!

That's absolutely right. Answer choice (A) is really just the reversal of answer choice (C). But just to break it down a bit further...

The stimulus can be distilled down to essentially:

Premise: Increased taxation is necessary to solve homelessness
Conclusion: We should increase taxation

Since our job is to support this argument, one way to do that would be to essentially say: Premise Conclusion. In other words, if increased taxation is necessary to solve homelessness then we should increase taxation. That's exactly what answer choice (C) does here.

Answer choice (A), on the other hand, basically gives us a rule that says: Conclusion Premise. But, since the conclusion is not a given here, this rule doesn't really help the argument.

Hope that helps!

[gen2871]

Hi Dear LSAT masters:

I am still having hard time seeing it through. Please double check my conditionals:

Only if the government steps in and provides the homeless with housing will this problem disappear

disappear government steps in and provides housing.

This (solving the problem by stepping in and providing housing) necessitates increased taxation.
disappear increased taxation.

C. if a measure is required to solve a problem, then it should be adopted.
(to solve a problem increased tax) adopt

I am seeing increased taxation as the necessary condition in the stimulus and answer choice C place it in the sufficient condition, and this puzzles me. please correct my reasoning. thank you!

[Adam Tyson]

Your conditionals are a little bit off here, gen2871, in that the second connection you made has the wrong sufficient condition. When the author said "this necessitates increased taxation", the correct antecedent to "this" wasn't the problem being solved/homelessness disappearing, but rather the government stepping in. These ideas thus form a conditional chain, as follows:

Homelessness solved gov't steps in increased taxes

The author concludes that we should raise taxes - the necessary thing should be done.

The correct answer, C, says that if doing something is necessary to solve a problem, it should be done. Increased taxes are necessary to solving the homeless problem, and answer C tells us that since raising taxes is required to solve that problem, then they should be raised. Conclusion strengthened! Turns out that yes, we actually should do the necessary thing!

It's not so much that raising taxes is sufficient for something. Rather, it's "if it is necessary (which it is) then we should do it". Raising taxes is still a necessary condition, but now being necessary is sufficient for a claim that it should be done. I know that sounds confusing - I hope it's clear to you!

[gen2871]

Adam, thanks for pointing out the the problem with my diagrams.

Now I understand the stimulus, I am still confused between answer A and C.

I understand Only if is a necessary condition indicator, and A is required to B should be diagramed as B A.
Is A diagramed as "To solve a problem (adopted tax increase a measure)" and it is wrong, because a measure is placed in the necessary condition.
and C goes "to solve a problem (measure adopt tax increase)" adopt tax in crease was supposed to in the necessary condition?

I am very visual and with limited understanding in English language, i dont know how I can make better sense in my own stubborn brain. Thanks in advance for your help! Looking forward to reading the follow up!

[Adam Tyson]

The answers to this question are all very abstract, gen, and that is part of what makes it difficult. To help you better analyze the answers, try substituting the terms that correspond to the abstractions in those answers.

For answer A, what is the "measure" that they are referring to? That would be "increased taxation." What is the "problem"? Homelessness. So, if we substitute those into answer A, we can take it out of the abstract and make it concrete and easier to understand. Answer A can now be read as:

Only if increased taxation is required to solve homelessness should increased taxation be adopted.

Looked at this way, answer A is saying "if we should increase taxes, then solving the problem of homelessness requires that we raise taxes." But that is the opposite of what we want, because we want "should increase taxes" to be a necessary condition, not a sufficient condition.

Try substituting the terms from the stimulus into the abstractions in the answer choices for answer C now, and you should find that "should increase taxes" ends up as a necessary condition. I hope that helps!

[gen2871]

hahahaha!!!!! Get it!!!

A reads as "ADOPTED MEASURE REQUIRED."
C. reads "MEASURE ADOPTED."

The stimulus says "problem disappear necessitates increased taxation."
so the diagram is Disappear increased taxation which echoes with C. hahahahaha!!! best day yet!

Thank you!

[haileymarkt]

In answering this question, I correctly diagrammed the stimulus and the answer choices; however, I struggle to see why C is better than A. Basically, I'm failing to see why if is preferred over only if.

Thanks in advance!