Critical Reasoning

Dear All, Please discuss.

Editorialist: Society is obliged to bestow the privileges of adulthood upon its members once they are mature enough to accept the corresponding responsibilities. But science has established that physiological development is completed in most persons by age seventeen. Since this maturing process has been completed by most seventeen-year-olds, there is no reason not to grant these citizens all of privileges of adulthood.

The editorialist's argument is most vulnerable to criticism on the ground that it

(A) assumes that it is trying to prove
(B) too hastily reaches a general conclusion on the basis of a few examples
(C) equivocates with respect to a central concept
(D) too readily accepts acclaim by appeal to inappropriate authority
(E) ignores the fact that some people are mature at age sixteen

OA: [spioler] C [/spoiler]

~ V

The argument's use of the concept of "maturity" is ambiguous. In the opening sentence, the evidence presented is in regard to being mature enough to accept certain responsibilities; that is, mentally and/or emotionally mature. But later, the editorialist mentions the "maturing process" in reference to physiological development. That failure to maintain a consistent meaning for a key term in the argument is the central flaw here, which is why the answer is C.

As an aside, when I used to teach this question in LSAT classes, people almost always got it wrong because they didn't know what "equivocate" means, and so they were hesitant to pick C as an answer.

Thanks Andrea!
I didn't realized that 'maturity' is ambiguous here. What I thought was, physiological maturity is not enough to judge whether a person is ready to accept responsibilities. Hence I concluded as 'Doctors' are not the correct authority for this issue.. and I picked D !

The argument's use of the concept of "maturity" is ambiguous in the argument. In the opening sentence, the evidence presented is in regard to being mature enough to accept certain responsibilities; that is, mentally and/or emotionally mature. But later, the editorialist mentions the "maturing process" in reference to physiological development. The failure to maintain a consistent meaning for a key term in the argument is the central flaw here, which is why editorial's argument is vulnerable to criticism. Hence, C is the answer.