#24 - Editorialist: Despite the importance it seems to have

[zdorovye@att.net]

Whoa this is a brain banger!

As Administrator wrote on 21 Jan 2011 (05:00), the Justify Formula is:

(1) Justify Formula: $ Disappears → $ Does Not Exist

But! The Justify Formula on Page 4-23 of the course book states that:

(2) Premises + Answer Choice = Conclusion

So (1) is written as a conditional and (2) is written algebraically.

Administrator then writes that Answer Choice (A) is "the contrapositive of the conditional chain needed to establish the conclusion." But, Answer Choice (A) is a general expression relating belief and existence, and it seems that $ Disappear and Money Does Not exist are being treated as two separate variables. Why is this?

2 more questions
a. What is Answer Choice (A) the contrapositive of in Administrator's response exactly?
b. Why is the Justify formula given in two different formats, as shown above?

The author argues that to lose belief in something, it no longer exists yet Answer Choice (A) is saying it continues to exist even if belief is gone. That is in direct oppostion to the conclusion.

In other words:

Lose Belief → Thing Doesn't Exist

Contrapositive: Thing exists → Belief

What am I missing?

[zdorovye@att.net]

Further to my question, Answer Choice (A) would make logical sense if the word "stop" were removed.

What is the forum's thoughts on that?

[Hanin Abu Amara]

Hi!

Anytime we see conditional language we want to diagram the conditional rule. And a helpful way to think about justify question is in algebraic form.

The two aren't mutually exclusive. Both can be helpful in visualizing the argument and getting to the right answer.

Disappear and Money does not exist are two separate variables because they have to separate meanings. Disappear implies that it did exist and no longer does. Money does not exist implies that it never did.

Words matter in the LSAT and we always want to use the language they give us.

Diagraming Answer Choice A conditionally starting with "if everyone were to stop believing" we get to Stop Believing --> continue existing.

Notice it matter if the thing exists to begin with. That plays a role in AC A.

So if

No Belief in $ → $ Disappears

and we know that it disappears and we need it to be true that if something disappears then it does not exist.

to jump from disappear to does not exist we need there to be


You made the assumption that the two words are the same which is the same assumption the author made. A creates the connection between disappear and does not exist that we need in order for the argument to flow.

Hope that answered your question.

[zdorovye@att.net]

Hi Hanin,

Thank you for the thoughtful reply. I think I understand now. Indeed, words matter. However, I perhaps should have paid more attention to the PowerScore advice to not let any question occupy an inordinate amount of time!

Where does this question rank in terms of difficulty?

[Jeff Wren]

Hi zdorovye,

While I don't have the exact stats on what percentage of students historically get this question correct, it generally gives people a lot of trouble (as you can probably tell from the many questions about it on the forum) and would be considered a difficult to very difficult question. What really gives people trouble is the tricky wording and the philosophical/theoretical topic about money not really existing, which causes some test takers to just zone out. The fact that it appears near the end of the LR section is not surprising as that is usually where the most difficult questions are found.

As you mentioned, you definitely want to keep an eye on the clock during your practice tests and not spend too much time on any one question. You can always flag it and return to it later if you have time at the end of the section.

[zdorovye@att.net]

Hi Jeff,

Thanks for the reply.

A humbling and philosophical question, indeed.

Do you guys have the specific LSAT administration that this question appeared in?

[Stephanie Oswalt]

Hi Jeff,

Thanks for the reply.

A humbling and philosophical question, indeed.

Do you guys have the specific LSAT administration that this question appeared in?

Hi!

PrepTest 46 - June 2005.

Our forum sorts the questions by PrepTest, so you can see the test at the top of this page.

Thanks!