LSAT Question Explanation
PT 105, Section 4, Question 20
Method of ReasoningExplanation
James argues that nuclear power is benefitting the environment because scientists found a way to extract from nuclear waste an element important for filtering automobile exhaust.
Maria then points out that while James' evidence is true, the extraction of rhodium from nuclear waste and using it to help filter is still in a testing stage, implying that the technique is not really helping the environment in practice yet.
It can be hard to predict the exact wording of the answer choices for this question type, so I always try to understand it in my own words and come up with a few different versions. Here I might say that Maria's counter proceeds by pointing out an important fact that James has overlooked, or adding context that undermines James' conclusion.
Answer choices
Maria never says that the evidence James uses is incorrect, just that he's missing a piece of evidence.
Maria never expresses an opinion about advocates of nuclear power.
The wording of this answer choice indicates circular reasoning. Maria never says that James didn't provide evidence at all, or that he just restated his evidence as the conclusion. She just pointed out something he was missing.
Maria introduces a key fact that James didn't consider when he made his conclusion.
Similar to (A), Maria doesn't say that James' evidence is false. Just that he's missing a piece of information.