#10 - Fred argued that, since Kathleen is a successful film

[Administrator]

Complete Question Explanation

Method of Reasoning. The correct answer choice is (C)

In this stimulus, Fred is set up for a fall. Fred's argument is as follows: since Kathleen is a successful director, she has probably worked with famous actors.

The author of the stimulus attacks this conclusion by pointing out relevant information that Fred apparently already knows: Kathleen is a documentary director, and those types rarely work with famous actors.

Answer choice (A) The author does not take this stance in any way. In fact the author points out something that is known about Kathleen in order to question Fred's conclusion.

Answer choice (B) "Showing" is something of a strong term, along the same lines as "demonstrating." The author does not show (or even prove, for that matter) that Fred is wrong, but rather introduces information which would cause one to question Fred's conclusion.

Answer choice (C): This is the correct answer choice. The author's claim is that Fred has failed to consider the type of director that Kathleen is.

Answer choice (D) Fred has not made such a mistaken assumption. According to the author, Fred is right about most successful directors, but has not considered the important question of what type of director Kathleen is.

Answer choice (E) The author does not take issue with this general claim about successful directors. Therefore, showing that Fred has failed to prove the claim would have no effect on the author's argument.

[satipod]

Hi, i' just wanted to post with a few questions that I found difficult on the Method of Reasoning Section. I was wondering if anyone ran into similar problems or could help me out.

#43 (7-75) Here, I thought C and D were both good contenders. Can anyone explain why C is ultimately the better choice here?


Thank you!

[Adam Tyson]

Sure thing, satipod (I just love the user names in here - it's like trying to figure out a vanity plate). The issue with answer D, "Fred has mistakenly assumed that all successful film directors work with famous actors," is that Fred didn't make that strong an assumption. In the stimulus, we learned that Fred only thinks it is LIKELY that she has worked with famous actors (note the use of the word "probably" in his conclusion). So, Fred may have assumed that MOST famous directors work with famous actors, or that all famous actors have PROBABLY worked with famous actors, we don't have any reason to believe that he assumes that they ALL have. If he did assume that, his conclusion would have been that she HAS worked with famous actors, rather than that she PROBABLY has.

I haven't used that many ALL CAPS in a while. That was fun!

Thanks for the question, and I hope this helped.

Adam M. Tyson
PowerScore LSAT Instructor

[satipod]

Thank you for the response, that's very helpful. Also, the all caps definitely add that extra umph (umf, oomf)

[sdb606]

I eliminated C because the stimulus says, "For as he knows..." which indicates that he did take necessary information into account. What language in the stimulus could eliminate C? What's an example of language that shows someone taking something into account if not this?

I picked A because the stimulus does not use any absolute language. Only "mostly" and "rarely" so there's not enough information to conclusively determine if Kathleen did or did not work with famous actors. Would A have been right if Fred had said Kathleen had "definitely" worked with famous actors instead of "probably"? Then we could say there's not enough information to justify an absolute conclusion like that.

[AspenHerman]

I eliminated C because the stimulus says, "For as he knows..." which indicates that he did take necessary information into account. What language in the stimulus could eliminate C? What's an example of language that shows someone taking something into account if not this?

I picked A because the stimulus does not use any absolute language. Only "mostly" and "rarely" so there's not enough information to conclusively determine if Kathleen did or did not work with famous actors. Would A have been right if Fred had said Kathleen had "definitely" worked with famous actors instead of "probably"? Then we could say there's not enough information to justify an absolute conclusion like that.

Can I bump this one please? The first part of this post is something that I'm curious about.

Results for Lesson 7 HW Method of Reasoning (43)

[Rachael Wilkenfeld]

Hi Aspen and sbd,

The key here is that he is aware of the information, but he doesn't address it in his argument. For the information to have been considered in the argument, he would have needed to give a reason to believe that the she still worked famous actors despite the fact that she is a documentary director. The author of the stimulus tells us that Fred knows that fact about Kathleen, but in Fred's argument, he doesn't give a reason why that fact wouldn't make it less likely she knows famous actors.

The problem with answer choice (A) is that it isn't describing the reasoning we see in the stimulus. We don't see the author criticize Fred's argument because he doesn't know enough to make his conclusion. The author questions how he draws the conclusion from the information that he does know about Kathleen. Even if there was stronger language in the stimulus, without fairly significant changes, answer choice (A) wouldn't describe this stimulus.

Hope that helps!

[AspenHerman]

Hi Aspen and sbd,

The key here is that he is aware of the information, but he doesn't address it in his argument. For the information to have been considered in the argument, he would have needed to give a reason to believe that the she still worked famous actors despite the fact that she is a documentary director. The author of the stimulus tells us that Fred knows that fact about Kathleen, but in Fred's argument, he doesn't give a reason why that fact wouldn't make it less likely she knows famous actors.

The problem with answer choice (A) is that it isn't describing the reasoning we see in the stimulus. We don't see the author criticize Fred's argument because he doesn't know enough to make his conclusion. The author questions how he draws the conclusion from the information that he does know about Kathleen. Even if there was stronger language in the stimulus, without fairly significant changes, answer choice (A) wouldn't describe this stimulus.

Hope that helps!

Thank you for your response. That distinction seems very subtle, so thank you for clarifying.