A question from AM Newyork

[voodoochild]

Steve,
Thanks for your reply. Now, I feel that my basics of causal reasoning are not correct. If it is the case that by saying X causes Y, X is not THE ONLY cause, why is it that Powerscore bible states that Z causes Y is a weakener? I am quoting
Page 203, "The LSAT Gods of the LSAT do not think this way. When an LSAT speaker concludes that one occurrence caused another, that speaker also assumes that the stated cause is the only possible cause of the effect and that consequently the stated cause will always produce the effect." I am a bit confused now

Please help me

[Steve Stein]

Hey Voodoochild,

Thanks for your response. It's true that when an LSAT speaker says that one occurrence caused another, the implication is that the referenced occurrence is the cause.

This is much different from saying that something "probably causes" something else. This is very different from scenarios in which the LSAT speaker claims to be pointing to a single cause.

I hope that's helpful--let me know whether this is clear--thanks!

~Steve