Logical Reasoning - "Fewer than the Majority" Forum

[fvigaud]

Anyone want to explain this one?

People are not happy unless they feel that they are needed by others. Most people in modern society, however, can achieve a feeling of indispensability only within the sphere of family and friendship....etc.

The statement above most strongly supports this:
"Fewer than the majority of people in modern society can find happiness outside the sphere of private interpersonal relationships. OK, BUT I DON'T LIKE THE USE OF FEWER THAN THE MAJORITY. WE ARE TALKING ABOUT MOST PEOPLE - WHICH CAN BE THE MAJORITY

Am I not correctly understanding "fewer than the majority" concept?

[magicman554]

They're weirdly worded (both the set-up and the answer choice) for a LR question, but it makes sense. Basically it says the majority needs those private interpersonal relationships to feel needed, and be happy. So we know that it's impossible for more than the majority to find happiness outside of that, and the alternative is that fewer can. This is not conclusively shown, but this is a "most strongly supported" type of question, and it does seem to suggest that fewer than the majority can find happiness outside of such relationships. Makes sense.

What PT was this from?

[JazzOne]

OP, if that is a real LSAT question, you should edit the post and remove the text. The mods get uptight about copyright issues.

Here's an explanation of the key sentence and the correct answer. The stimulus basically says that a majority of people can achieve happiness ONLY within the sphere of family and friendship; in other words, most people cannot achieve happiness outside that sphere. The credited response is just a paraphrase of that statement. If a majority of people cannot achieve happiness outside the sphere, then fewer than a majority CAN achieve happiness outside the sphere. In this case the phrase "fewer than the majority" just refers to "everyone else" who's not in the majority.

[fvigaud]

ah, I see. thank you very much.
it is an LSAT question - Dec 04, LR 2, #16
ok, will edit post to remove some text now.
thanks