LSAT-Section-1-Logical-Reasoning Section One : Logical Reasoning - Practice Questions

Question 382

Raphaela: Forcing people to help others is morally wrong. Therefore, no government has the right to redistribute resources via taxation. Anyone who wants can help others voluntarily.

Edward: Governments do have that right, insofar as they give people the freedom to leave and hence not to live under their authority.

Raphaela and Edward disagree about the truth of which one of the following?

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Any government that does not permit emigration would be morally wrong to redistribute resources via taxation.
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Any government that permits emigration has the right to redistribute resources via taxation.
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Every government should allow people to help others voluntarily.
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Any government that redistributes resources via taxation forces people to help others.
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Any government that forces people to help others should permit emigration.

Reference / correct answer:

Any government that permits emigration has the right to redistribute resources via taxation.

To Raphaela, government may not use taxation to redistribute income, period, because that policy is morally wrong and unnecessary to boot. To Edward, government may use taxation in that way, as long as a citizen is free to say that’s it, I’m leaving, I won’t be taxed in this fashion. So they would be at loggerheads over option [Any government that permits emigration…], Edward saying that the government has met the necessary condition for income redistribution through taxes, Raphaela denying that the government has any right to that policy whatsoever. Since option [Any government that does not permit…] is an example of a government that fails to meet Edward’s precondition, and since Raphaela denies absolutely any government’s right to use taxes for redistribution, option [Any government that does not permit…] is a statement on which they would surely agree. Voluntarism [Every government should allow…] is a given to Raphaela and of no evident interest to Edward. The likelihood is that both would be in sympathy with sentiment of option [Every government should allow…], but really, there’s not enough evidence to be sure. Option [Any government that redistributes…] states Raphaela’s position pretty well, but since Edward never mentions the freedom vs. necessity of people’s helping others, it’s quite possible that option [Any government that redistributes…] is a philosophical position that Edward might agree with and even approve of. And since Raphaela never mentions emigration and never responds to Edward, we cannot be sure of her views on government and emigration [Any government that forces…], though from the tenor of her comments she’s more likely to agree with Edward on option [Any government that forces…] than disagree.

Question 383

Galanin is a protein found in the brain. In an experiment, rats that consistently chose to eat fatty foods when offered a choice between lean and fatty foods were found to have significantly higher concentrations of galanin in their brains than did rats that consistently chose lean over fatty foods. These facts strongly support the conclusion that galanin causes rats to crave fatty foods.

Which one of the following, if true, most supports the argument?

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The craving for fatty foods does not invariably result in a rat's choosing those foods over lean foods.
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The brains of the rats that consistently chose to eat fatty foods did not contain significantly more fat than did the brains of rats that consistently chose lean foods.
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The chemical components of galanin are present in both fatty foods and lean foods.
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The rats that preferred fatty foods had the higher concentrations of galanin in their brains before they were offered fatty foods.
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Rats that metabolize fat less efficiently than do other rats develop high concentrations of galanin in their brains.

Question 384

Some government economists view their home countries as immune to outside influence. But economies are always open systems; international trade significantly affects prices and wages. Just as physicists learned the shortcomings of a mechanics based on idealizations such as the postulation of perfectly frictionless bodies, government economists must look beyond national borders if their nations' economies are to prosper.

The argument's conclusion follows logically if which one of the following is assumed?

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A national economy cannot prosper unless every significant influence on it has been examined by that nation's government economists.
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Economics is weakly analogous to the physical sciences.
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Economic theories relying on idealizations are generally less accurate than economic theories that do not rely on idealizations.
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International trade is the primary significant variable influencing prices and wages.
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Some government economists have been ignoring the effects of international trade on prices and wages.

LSAT-Section-1-Logical-Reasoning – Section One : Logical Reasoning