#6 - Since Jackie is such a big fan of Moral Vacuum’s music

[moshei24]

Hi,

I understand why choice A is correct, because the fact that the music arranger of a band that she really likes started working for this other (Cruel Herd) band would make it that she likes their music, especially given the fact that she used to not like them with the old manager, so this new album will probably be on her like list now that the musical arranger changed, and the reason why that matters is because the argument is saying that the reason she's going to like them is because she's a fan of the other band.

Is that why D is wrong? Because the argument isn't saying that the reason she'll like them is because they're rock, but because she likes the other band (Moral Vacuum)?

[moshei24]

Also, according to that reasoning it would be a C/E type question, but on the scoring of the test, it didn't have it listed at C/E. Thanks for the help.

-Moshe

[Joshua Kronick]

When I looked at this, I instantly keyed in on the conclusion, which is in the first sentence here. It is telling me that because Jackie lies MV she will probably like CH. Because this is a strengthen question, I know the correct answer will somehow involve strengthening the connection between MV and CH, so any answer choice that doesn't involve MV and CH is going to be wrong. This instantly eliminated B/D/E from contention and leaves you with A and C, with C not providing any information that would show why liking MV would lead you to like CH, just that they perform in the same club. Answer choice A is the only one that has both of these terms and strengthens the connection; MV's musical arranger is now CH's. D does nothing to strengthen the connection between MV and CH. All of the music Jackie likes to listen to is Rock, but that doesn't mean she likes all rock, nor that because she likes one rock band she'll like another. Put another way, you could say all the music I like to listen to is Rap, but just because I like to listen to Jay Z does not mean that I will like to listen to Kanye West.

[moshei24]

Oh, so the point is to strengthen the conclusion which is a causal connection? I'm not trying to strengthen that she likes this new band, but instead I'm trying to strengthen that she likes this band because of the connection?

[SherryZ]

HI there, thank you in advance for helping me out!

Dec 2007 LSAT, Sec 1 LR, Q6:

My understanding to the stimulus is that Since Jackie is big fan of MV, she will probably like the CH's new album because it is similar to MV's music.

Could you explain why A can strengthen the argument but D can't? Also, please point it out the error I make above if you find my understanding is flawed.

Thank you so much! Hope you had a very nice Thanksgiving

---Sherry

[Nikki Siclunov]

Hi SherryZ,

Your understanding of the argument is spot-on: the author argues that Jackie will probably like The Cruel Herd’s new album, because The Cruel Herd’s rock music and witty lyrics are similar to those of Moral Vacuum—a band Jackie loves. Because the strength of the author’s conclusion depends on how closely The Cruel Herd’s new album resembles Moral Vacuum’s music, you should look for an answer attesting to their similarity.

Let's take a look at answer choice (A). If The Cruel Herd’s previous musical arranger has been replaced by Moral Vacuum’s musical arranger, this would provide another point of similarity between the two bands. Such a finding would increase the odds that Jackie likes The Cruel Herd’s new album, thereby strengthening the author’s conclusion.

It is still possible, of course, that Jackie ends up hating The Cruel Herd’s new album. Remember—a Strengthen question does not require us to prove the author’s conclusion. Our job is merely to identify an answer that most strengthens the argument, not necessarily one that justifies it. It is also worth noting that the conclusion of the argument is probabilistic and not absolute, which further lessens the degree to which the correct answer needs to support the expectation that Jackie likes The Cruel Herd’s new album.

Answer choice (D) does not strengthen the argument:

Jackie Listens Rock Music

Just because all the music Jackie listens to is rock music does not necessarily mean that she would listen to any band playing rock music. If you found this answer choice attractive, you committed a Mistaken Reversal (Rock Music (e.g. CH) Jackie Listens).

Remember—in an argument by analogy, the author uses the presumption of similarity between two things to argue that they probably have additional traits in common. Analogies are often used to clarify the relationship between the items or reveal a fundamental truth about one of the items (Jackie likes Moral Vacuum; therefore, she will like The Cruel Herd). When used properly, an analogy can be a powerful tool of argumentation. However, if the author treats as similar two cases that are different in a critical respect, then the analogy is false and the conclusion is questionable. If you see an analogy in the stimulus followed by a Strengthen question stem, focus on bolstering the strength of the analogy by providing evidence of additional similarity between the items being compared.

Hope this helps!