LSAT Explanation PT 30, S4, Q25: The judgment that an artist is
LSAT Question Stem
Which one of the following contains questionable reasoning most similar to that in the argument above?
Logical Reasoning Question Type
This is a Parallel Flaw question.
Correct Answer
The correct answer to this question is A.
LSAT Question Complete Explanation
In the passage, the author argues that an artist's greatness is based solely on assessments of their work, and that a series of great works is the only indicator of greatness. The conclusion states that an artist's greatness is just a summary of the quality of their known works and cannot be used to predict the quality of their unknown or future works. The structure of the argument consists of a premise (a series of great works is the only indicator of greatness) and a conclusion (the artist's greatness cannot predict the quality of their unknown or future works).
An "Evaluate" question for this argument could be: "Is the ability to produce great works in the past a reliable indicator of an artist's ability to produce great works in the future?"
The question type is Parallel Flaw (PF), which asks us to identify the answer choice that contains questionable reasoning most similar to that in the passage. The correct answer is A.
Answer choice A is correct because it shares the same flaw as the passage. The author states that the only way to know whether someone has a cold is to observe symptoms, and concludes that this means we can only say they have a cold based on the symptoms they have displayed, and no prediction about the patient's future symptoms is justified. This is similar to the passage's argument that an artist's greatness is based solely on assessments of their work and cannot be used to predict the quality of their unknown or future works.
Answer choice B is incorrect because it does not share the same flaw as the passage. It suggests that people who rarely catch colds must be physiologically different from those who catch colds frequently, but this conclusion does not involve the same reasoning error as the passage.
Answer choice C is incorrect because it does not share the same flaw as the passage. It states that no one can be infected by the same cold virus twice, and therefore it is not possible to predict a person's susceptibility to cold viruses in the future based on their history of infection. This reasoning is different from the passage's argument about an artist's greatness.
Answer choice D is incorrect because it does not share the same flaw as the passage. It argues that because cold viruses differ in their effects, it is impossible to predict how a cold will progress. This reasoning is not parallel to the passage's argument about an artist's greatness.
Answer choice E is incorrect because it does not share the same flaw as the passage. It states that one can never be certain that a person has a cold because each cold symptom is also a symptom of another disease. This reasoning is different from the passage's argument about an artist's greatness.