LSAT Explanation PT 30, S2, Q13: President of the Regional Chamber of

LSAT Question Stem

The argument is most vulnerable to criticism on the ground that it 

Logical Reasoning Question Type

This is a Flaw question. 

Correct Answer

The correct answer to this question is D. 

LSAT Question Complete Explanation

Let's first analyze the argument in the passage. The President of the Regional Chamber of Commerce states that almost no new businesses have moved into the region or started up in the last ten years. He then criticizes the Planning Board for their recent estimate that businesses are leaving the region at a rate of about four a week, calling it a gross exaggeration. The President argues that there were never more than about one thousand businesses in the region, so if they were really leaving at such a rate, they would all have been gone long ago. In this argument, the premise is that there were never more than about one thousand businesses in the region, and the conclusion is that the Planning Board's estimate is a gross exaggeration.

An "Evaluate" question for this argument could be, "Has the rate of businesses leaving the region been constant over time?"

Now let's discuss the answer choices for this Flaw question, which asks us to identify the vulnerability in the argument.

a) This answer choice is incorrect because the President does address what is coming into the system when he mentions that almost no new businesses have moved into the region or started up over the last ten years.

b) This answer choice is also incorrect because the President does not confuse a claim about the rate of change within a system with a claim about the absolute size of the system. He uses the information about the absolute size to draw a conclusion about what the rate of change must be, but he does not confuse or equate the two ideas.

c) This answer choice is incorrect because the President does not argue against the Planning Board's position simply by showing that the position serves the interest of the Planning Board. He never mentions anything about the position serving the interest of the Planning Board.

d) This is the correct answer. The President's argument is most vulnerable to criticism on the ground that it treats a claim about what is currently the case (the recent estimate of businesses leaving at a rate of about four a week) as if it were a claim about what has been the case for an extended period. The President assumes that the Planning Board's estimate projected back into the past for a long time, which is not justified by the information given.

e) This answer choice is incorrect because the President does not attack the Planning Board's estimate on the ground that it is not precise. He accepts it as an estimate and criticizes it for being a gross exaggeration, which is different from criticizing it for being imprecise.

In summary, the correct answer is D because the President's argument is vulnerable to criticism for treating a claim about what is currently the case as if it were a claim about what has been the case for an extended period.