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Course: LSAT > Unit 1
Lesson 8: Logical Reasoning – Worked examples- Identify the conclusion | Worked example
- Identify an entailment | Worked example
- Strongly supported inferences | Worked example
- Working with disputes | Worked example
- Identify the technique | Worked example
- Identify the role | Worked example
- Identify the principle | Worked example
- Match the structure | Worked example
- Match principles | Worked example
- Identify a flaw | Worked example
- Match flaws | Worked example
- Necessary assumptions | Worked example
- Sufficient assumptions | Worked example
- Strengthen | Worked example
- Weaken | Worked example
- Helpful to know | Worked example
- Explain | Worked example
- Resolve a conflict | Worked example
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Identify an entailment | Worked example
Watch a demonstration of one way to approach a question that asks you to identify an entailment that follows logically from a set of premises. Created by Sal Khan.
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- This is nottt EZ to learn. Thank u for making the videos free. Please please keep them free! They are needed!(11 votes)
- Question Type: Identify an Entailment
This is a great example of an inference question in which, despite all the clutter, only one sentence actually matters. In this case, it's the last sentence: "one or the other of these sources of funding [government or corporate] is necessary for any genetic research."
That information alone is enough for us to realize that answer (D) must be true, because as you put it, if there's no corporate funding and no government funding, then there's no research, and hence no ethical dilemmas arising from research!
All the other answer choices try to lure us into mistakes concerning the other information in the stimulus.
(A) is incorrect because although we know that government is the exclusive funder of most genetic research, we have no idea which genetic research leads to advances. Maybe all government-funded genetic research goes nowhere, and the minority of research that's funded by corporations is responsible for all of the advances! Because we don't know, we don't have support for this answer.
(B) is wrong because, again, we have no idea how much or which research leads to advances.
(C) see above!
(D) is correct because it says that "No ethical dilemmas "resulting from advances in genetic research arise without government or corporate funding."
(E) is tempting, but the stimulus only tells us what's true currently about genetic research. We have no idea whether this will continue to be the case, or whether it will change.(7 votes) - Why is At least some advances in genetic research occur in projects funded by corporations false? What would make this a must be true statement?(1 vote)
- The type of conclusion is causation right?(1 vote)
Video transcript
- [Instructor] Almost all
advances in genetic research give rise to ethical dilemmas. Government is the
exclusive source of funding for most genetic research. Those projects not funded by government are funded solely by corporations. One or the other of
these sources of funding is necessary for any genetic research. Alright. If all of the statements above are true, then which one of the
following must be true? Now before I even look at these choices, let's diagram this out a little bit. So this first statement says almost all advances in
genetic research give rise to ethical dilemmas. So let me draw a little diagram. So let's say that this is, this right over here, these are all the advances
in genetic research. All advances from genetic research. Now they're not saying all of the advances lead to ethical dilemmas, they're saying almost all of the advances. So I would say almost all. So this is almost all of them. So these are the ones we could say lead to ethical dilemmas. Ethical dilemmas. Alright, now what do they go on to say? They say government is the
exclusive source of funding for most genetic research. Those projects not funded
by government are funded solely by corporations. One or the other of these
sources of funding is necessary for any genetic research. Okay, so this is interesting. So the next thing we
want to think about is well, not all research leads to advances. So, let's do it like this. So this is all of the research, a subset of which leads to advances. So that's all the research, all of the genetic research. And then this research
is going to be funded either by government or by corporations. They make that very clear. One or the other of these
sources of funding is necessary for any genetic research. So this is going to be government or corporations. Alright, now that we've
diagrammed this out a little bit-- And we're assuming that, we have to assume that
all of this is true. This might not actually be true, but if we assume they're all true, which of theses statements must be true? Most advances in genetic
research occur in projects funded by government
rather than corporations. Well, that might be the case, but it doesn't have to be true. It's possible that the corporate funding is actually responsible for
most of the actual advances. Maybe they fund better in some way, or they're more effective in some way. So that one definitely
does not have to be true, even if we assume all of
these statements are true, you could have a world in which the corporations somehow fund the research that has all the advances in it while the government
funding isn't as effective. So I would rule that one out. Most genetic research funded by government results in advances that give
rise to ethical dilemmas. They're saying that research is funded either by government or by the private sector or by corporations. So this is the research right over here. They're saying that look, some of it is funded by government, and some of it is funded by corporations. Now they say most genetic
research funded by government results in advances that give
rise to ethical dilemmas. Well we don't know that
most of the research funded results in advances. It might be a small amount of either that result in actual advances. Once again we have to pick
the thing that must be true. So if we can figure out a situation that well, it doesn't have to be true, then we can rule it out. At least some of the
advances in genetic research occur in projects funded by corporations. Well once again we're not picking something
that might be true or that sounds reasonable, we're trying to pick
something that must be true. And I can construct a situation where all of the advances
are sitting squarely on the government's side
of what they are funding. On this diagram right over here, maybe this is the stuff that
the government is funding, and all of the corporate
research doesn't lead to any advances. Now it might not seem
likely or reasonable, but that could actually be the case that all of the advances are happening on the government side. So we don't have to say that at least some of the advances in genetic research occur in projects funded by corporations. It feels like a reasonable statement, but it doesn't have to be true. No ethical dilemmas
resulting from advances in genetic research
arise without government or corporate funding. So these statements up here they're saying we have these ethical dilemmas from advances in genetic research. That's this green area here. These are ethical dilemmas
from the advances. And they're saying no ethical dilemmas resulting from advances
in genetic research arise without government or corporate funding. So if we took away the government
and the corporate funding, the statements up here
tell us that corporate and government funding are
the only sources of research. Well then this research won't happen, in which case these advances won't happen, in which case you will not
have these ethical dilemmas from the advances. So this statement must be true. Now let's look-- Let me delete some of
this marking up I did. So this needs to be true. Now let's look at this last choice. As long as government continues
to fund genetic research, that research will give
rise to ethical dilemmas. Well, once again it might feel
like a reasonable statement, something that might be true, but it doesn't have to be true. For example, all of the
advances might be occurring in the corporate research. So if this one right over here, that might be the government and this might be the corporate. All of the advances are happening
in the corporate research, and some of them are causing
the external ethical dilemmas. Maybe all of the government
research is very inefficient. And in that case, that research will not give
rise to ethical dilemmas. So this does not have to be true. We definitely wanna go with D.