Q12 - Many mountain climbers regard climbing

[giladedelman]

Hey Pradeep! Thanks for the question.

Here we're asked to justify the reasoning, which really means we're looking for an assumption that strengthens the argument. The argument breaks down like this:

Climbers shouldn't attempt to climb Mount Everest for two reasons: the risk of death or serious injury is very high, and climbers' reports dispel the notion of gaining "spiritual discovery."

So, what's the logical gap that needs filling in? Well, is it a given that we shouldn't do something if it's risky and doesn't lead to spiritual discovery? Maybe those are the very reasons we should do it -- who knows?

(B), the correct answer, makes our assumption explicit. The argument tells us that climbing Mount Everest is dangerous and unlikely to lead to spiritual discovery. So it definitely falls under the category of "dangerous activities that are unlikely to result in significant spiritual benefits" (though you could quibble about the distinction between discovery and benefits). If you accept the principle that such activities should be avoided, then you'd have to agree that climbers shouldn't try to scale Everest.

(A) has two major flaws. First, you should always be on your guard when you see the word "primarily." The argument doesn't say anything about spiritual discovery being the primary goal. Second, though this answer does fill the gap between risk and not attempting the climb, it doesn't fill in the other gap, because it doesn't address the point about spiritual discovery being unlikely.

(C) is out of scope. Who's talking about legal prohibition?

(D) is out of scope. We're not interested in whether spiritual experiences are possible, we're interested in whether climbing Everest is a good idea.

(E) might be tempting, but it doesn't really affect the conclusion one way or another. Should people attempt to climb Mount Everest or not?

Pradeep, does that clear things up for you? Let me know if you have any more questions.


#officialexplanation

[PRADEEPCHANDY]

I chose answer A since it outlines the risk of taking any such activity

The official answer B does not seem to indicate that

Why is B correct?

[PRADEEPCHANDY]

thanks giladedelman

this useful

[Puffy Pants]

Bump!

I really do not get why B is the correct answer. I had chosen A...

Further explanation would be GREATLY appreciated!

[ohthatpatrick]

We want an answer that takes us from what we know about Everest and gets us to the promised land of "climbers should not attempt this climb".

What do we know about the Everest climb?
- risk of death/injury is very high
- climbers only experience fear/exhaustion at top, not "spiritual discovery"

Almost all answer choices to Principle-Justify are conditionals, so your success on these questions largely hinges on your ability to symbolize/process/understand these rules.

(A) If undertaken primarily for spiritual reasons AND risks are great --> then abandon project.

Can we match this up? (Always start by verifying the conclusion can do what you need it to do)

We need a rule that gives us
----> climbers should not attempt this climb

This answer says
----> you should abandon this project

That's not a very strong match, but I would probably still consider it. It's pretty fair to call a climb of that magnitude a project. But is "not attempting" something the same as "abandoning" it?

No "abandoning a project" means you started but didn't complete it. "Not attempting" means you never even started it.

Pretending we forgive (A) for that disparity, we have to see if we know that "climbing Everest" is both "risks are great" and "undertaken primarily for spiritual reasons".

We know the former but not the latter. We don't know the primary reason people undertake climbing Everest. You're not allowed to speculate here.

We know that climbers don't seem to achieve spiritual discovery when they climb Everest, but we don't know if that was the primary reason they decided to make the climb.

If we can't match the evidence to the Sufficient side of the answer choice's rule, then there's no way for that rule to take us to the other side of the conclusion.

===

Meanwhile, to contrast with (B).

(B) gives us
----> you should avoid this dangerous activity
which is a better match for
---> you should not attempt to climb Everest

The full rule of (B) is
IF dangerous activity is unlikely to result in significant spiritual benefits --> avoid it.

Do we know that climbing Everest is a "dangerous activity that is unlikely to result in significant spiritual benefit"?

Pretty much! Not a perfect answer, for sure, but this is a pretty fair paraphrase for what we were told.

Hope this helps.

[Jeffsteinberg91]

I have trouble with accepting answer choice (B) because our stimulus says the "only profound experiences they had at the top were of exhaustion and fear."
I would have thought this rules out any spiritual experience/benefit. Could someone please explain.

[huskybins]

Hi Patrick or all folks,
Did you notice answer B says "...unlikely to result in ...SIGNIFICANT spiritual benefits... "? But we cannot find any place in the stimulus supporting the idea of "SIGNIFICANT spiritual benefits": i.e. it is hardly to infer that "romantic notion" is SIGNIFICANT spiritual experience.

I would agree B is a correct answer only if B changes to "...unlikely to result in ...ANY spiritual benefits..." -- which is strong or sufficient to guarantee the conclusion to be drawn in the argument.

It also reminds me about PT 60-3-24 A: why it is wrong is obviously because it similarly uses the adverb "especially" which is also of no support at all in the stimulus! Interestingly, the correct answer B in that question uses "ANY" to substitute "some" in the stimulus to modify trendy music -- but which is allowed since "any music" includes "some music" and thus forms a strong enough or sufficient principle to guarantee the conclusion of the stimulus.

If you believe LSAC creates consistent tests all the time, I would much appreciate how you differentiate those two similar-looking answers while one of which is wrong (60-3-24 A), the other is correct (53-3-12 B).
Thanks so much in advance for any input in future!

We want an answer that takes us from what we know about Everest and gets us to the promised land of "climbers should not attempt this climb".

What do we know about the Everest climb?
- risk of death/injury is very high
- climbers only experience fear/exhaustion at top, not "spiritual discovery"

Almost all answer choices to Principle-Justify are conditionals, so your success on these questions largely hinges on your ability to symbolize/process/understand these rules.

(A) If undertaken primarily for spiritual reasons AND risks are great --> then abandon project.

Can we match this up? (Always start by verifying the conclusion can do what you need it to do)

We need a rule that gives us
----> climbers should not attempt this climb

This answer says
----> you should abandon this project

That's not a very strong match, but I would probably still consider it. It's pretty fair to call a climb of that magnitude a project. But is "not attempting" something the same as "abandoning" it?

No "abandoning a project" means you started but didn't complete it. "Not attempting" means you never even started it.

Pretending we forgive (A) for that disparity, we have to see if we know that "climbing Everest" is both "risks are great" and "undertaken primarily for spiritual reasons".

We know the former but not the latter. We don't know the primary reason people undertake climbing Everest. You're not allowed to speculate here.

We know that climbers don't seem to achieve spiritual discovery when they climb Everest, but we don't know if that was the primary reason they decided to make the climb.

If we can't match the evidence to the Sufficient side of the answer choice's rule, then there's no way for that rule to take us to the other side of the conclusion.

===

Meanwhile, to contrast with (B).

(B) gives us
----> you should avoid this dangerous activity
which is a better match for
---> you should not attempt to climb Everest

The full rule of (B) is
IF dangerous activity is unlikely to result in significant spiritual benefits --> avoid it.

Do we know that climbing Everest is a "dangerous activity that is unlikely to result in significant spiritual benefit"?

Pretty much! Not a perfect answer, for sure, but this is a pretty fair paraphrase for what we were told.

Hope this helps.