LSAT Logical Reasoning, Oct 2001, Section 1, Q23: My take

Some statisticians claim that the surest way to increase the overall correctness of the total set of one’s beliefs is: never change that set, except by rejecting a belief when given adequate evidence against it. However, if this were the only rule one followed, then whenever one were presented with any kind of evidence, one would have to either reject some of one’s beliefs or else leave one’s beliefs unchanged. But then, over time, one could only have fewer and fewer beliefs. Since we need many beliefs in order to survive, the statisticians’ claim must be mistaken. 

The argument is most vulnerable to criticism on the grounds that it 

(A) presumes, without providing any justification, that the surest way of increasing the overall correctness of the total set of one’s beliefs must not hinder one’s ability to survive.

(B) neglects the possibility that even while following the statisticians’ rule, one might also accept new beliefs when presented with some kinds of evidence. 

(C) overlooks the possibility that some large sets of beliefs are more correct overall than are some small sets of beliefs. 

(D) takes for granted that one should accept some beliefs related to survival even when given adequate evidence against them. 

(E) takes for granted that the beliefs we need in order to have many beliefs must all be correct beliefs.

Answer: (A)

Again, it is fun to deduce this. First, let us eliminate the wrong answer choices.

(B) is wrong because you can't change the total set of beliefs by adding to it (the surest way criticized says so!)

(C) is irrelevant

(D) is wrong because it holds the statisticians' claim against a person who rejects the statisticians' claim

(E) is irrelevant twaddle

Let's work (A) out...

According to some statisticians:

Surest way to increase correctness of the total set of beliefs --> Reduction in beliefs (1)

According to the person who rejects the statisticians' claim, survival requires maintaining some beliefs, or, ~(reduction in beliefs).

Survival --> ~(Reduction in beliefs)

(or)

Reduction in beliefs --> ~Survival (2)

Taking an assumptive leap by combining (1) and (2),

Surest way to increase correctness of the total set of beliefs --> ~ Survival

In other words, the person who rejects the statisticians' claim is assuming that the surest way proposed by them hinders survival. This clearly implies that this person is assuming that any surest way of increasing the total set of beliefs must not hinder survival, which is what (A) says.

LSAT Logical Reasoning, Feb 1996, Section 4, Q25: My take

Louis: People's intentions cannot be, on the whole, more bad than good. Were we to believe otherwise, we would inevitably cease to trust each other, and no society can survive without mutual trust among its members.

The argument is most vulnerable to which one of the following criticisms?

(A) It fails to rule out the possibility that a true belief can have deleterious consequences.

(B) It mistakenly assumes that if two claims cannot at the same time both be true, then they cannot at the same time both be false.

(C) It challenges the truth of a claim merely by calling into question the motives of those who profess that they believe it to be true.

(D) It assumes without any warrant that in any situation with two possible outcomes, the most negative one will inevitably occur.

(E) It provides no reason to believe that a statement that is true of a given group of individuals is also true of any other group of individuals. 

Answer: (A). 

It is very easy to arrive at (A) by elimination because the others are poor contenders.

However, why (A) is correct is worth analyzing.

The conclusion here is that people's intentions cannot be, on the whole, more bad than good. The conclusion is obviously to be held as a true belief, so the "were we to believe otherwise" bit turns it into a false belief. 

Holding the false belief leads to negative things that finally end in extinction of society.

False belief -> Negative things that end in extinction of society

does not rule out

~ (False belief) -> Negative things that end in extinction of society

(or) 

does not rule out 

True belief (conclusion) -> Negative things that end in extinction of society (deleterious consequences), which is what (A) says.

The possibility that the true belief of the conclusion still leads to the negative things that end in the extinction of society renders the argument unsound.

ASIDE: As an analogy, consider the statement that those who believe in God (G) are saved (S).

G -> S only renders the contrapositive ~S -> ~G true always

It does not rule out ~G -> S 

because there may be some who do not believe in God (~G) but are still saved (S). Those who are saved (S) definitely include all those who believe in God (G) and may include at least some of those who do not believe in God (~G). What is true for sure is that if one is not saved (~S), then one definitely does not believe in God (~G).

Writ On The Steps Of Puerto Rican Harlem - Gregory Corso

from Long Live Man

There’s a truth limits man

A truth prevents his going any farther

The world is changing

The world knows it’s changing

Heavy is the sorrow of the day

The old have the look of doom

The young mistake their fate in that look

That is truth

But it isn’t all truth

Life has meaning

And I do not know the meaning

Even when I felt it were meaningless

I hoped and prayed and sought a meaning

It wasn’t all frolic poesy

There were dues to pay

Summoning Death and God

I’d a wild dare to tackle Them

Death proved meaningless without Life

Yes the world is changing

But Death remains the same

It takes man away from Life

The only meaning he knows

And usually it is a sad business

This Death

I’d an innocence I’d a seriousness

I’d a humor save me from amateur philosophy

I am able to contradict my beliefs

I am able able

Because I want to know the meaning of everything

Yet sit I like a brokenness

Moaning: Oh what responsibility

I put on thee Gregory

Death and God

Hard hard it’s hard

I learned life were no dream

I learned truth deceived

Man is not God

Life is a century

Death an instant

Snake Eyes - Amiri Baraka

That force is lost
which shaped me, spent
in its image, battered, an old brown thing
swept off the streets
where it sucked its
gentle living.
                    And what is meat
to do, that is driven to its end
by words? The frailest gestures
grow like skirts around breathing.
                                                     We take
unholy risks to prove
we are what we cannot be. For instance,
I am not even crazy.

A poem for speculative hipsters - Amiri Baraka

He had got, finally,to the forest
of motives. There were no
owls, or hunters. No Connie Chatterleys
resting beautifully
on their backs, having casually
brought socialism
to England.
Only ideas,
and their opposites.
Like,
he was really
nowhere.

American Defense - Son House

No use to shedding no tears, No use to having no fears,
This war may last you for years.

American defense will run you some cents
Just had to take care of your boys.
You must raise more, produce far more cents than they use
Just to save all your worries and toils.

No use to shedding no tears, No use to having no fears,
This war may last you for years.

Well, the red, white and blue that represent you
You ought to do everything that you can.
Buy war saving stamps; young men go to the camps;
Be brave and take this stand.

No use to shedding no tears, No use to having no fears,
This war may last you for years.

Don’t let troubles sometimes all upset your mind;
For you won’t know just what to do.
Keep pushing, keep shoving, don’t be angry, keep loving,
Be faithful, be honest and true.

No use to shedding no tears, No use to having no fears,
This war may last you for years.

You can say yes or no, but we got to win this war
Because General McArthur’s not a friend.
There won’t be enough Japs to shoot a little game of craps
Because the biggest of them all will be dead.

No use to shedding no tears, No use to having no fears,
This war may last you for years.

This war sure do bother our mother and father,
Our sisters and brothers too.
Dear friends and relations, the war’s end creation,
Don’t let this worry you.

CONCAVE CEILINGS - Francis Picabia

CONCAVE CEILINGS

why like a monstrous old man
in this cemetary of rags
with your turban of coffins
barren crop of coarse grass
incomprehensible gymnasiarch
domestic stir
chinese lantern
don't you see enemy of light
that i am the genius virtue.