PT 45 Section 4 Question 18...how is that answer valid? Forum

[timmydoeslsat]

Stimulus:

Decentralization ---> Function autonomously ---> More realistic planning


Answer choice:

(A): ~Function autonomously ---> ~Planning not maximally realistic


How is this the right answer? The only thing we can conclude from ~Function Autonomous in the stimulus is ~ Decentralization.

The contrapositive of (A) is if planning is maximally realistic, then it is functioning autonomously.

We have no information of what happens if planning is maximally realistic.

[kahechsof]

The only words I understood were "the" and "of"

[timmydoeslsat]

I will bump this for more help, but I will also contribute one more thought as I attempt to understand this one.

I suppose there truly is a dichotomy of centralized and decentralized. As you must be one or the other. You could not have a situation where one is neither.

If it is the case that decentralized always permits more realistic planning...I suppose this is perhaps in reference to centralized, meaning that decentralized is has "more" realistic planning than centralized. The only item it could be in comparison to is centralized if that makes sense.

We have:

Decentralized ---> FA ---> More Realistic Planning

If it is ~FA, then we know ~Decentralized

If something is not decentralized, then it must be centralized. Since decentralized is "more" realistic, then centralized cannot be maximally realistic because the other way is always more.

Is this understanding correct?

[LSAT World]

This question asks which choice is most strongly supported by the argument. We are told that decentralization for divisions in a large institution always allow more realistic planning. From this, we know that in large institutions whose divisions do not function autonomously, planning is not maximally realistic since it is possibly for more realistic planning to be established, so (A) is the credited response.

[timmydoeslsat]

This question asks which choice is most strongly supported by the argument. We are told that decentralization for divisions in a large institution always allow more realistic planning. From this, we know that in large institutions whose divisions do not function autonomously, planning is not maximally realistic since it is possibly for more realistic planning to be established, so (A) is the credited response.

Here is what you are saying:

Decentralization --->Function Autonomously ---> Allows for more realistic planning


If we have ~Function Autonomously, we have ~Decentralization

My point of this thread is that I believe it may be a unwarranted jump.

How do we know that it is not the case: Centralization ---> Allows for more realistic planning?

Are you basing that this is not the case because we have a true dichotomy of one must belonging to either centralized or decentralized situations, and from this, saying that since decentralized always allows for more realistic planning, that must mean that it is impossible for Centralized to have maximal realistic planning.

To not believe the paragraph above, you would not be able to conclude what is possible. Notice that we don't have any formal logic governing what happens when we have ~Decentralized, which must be "Centralized" if we ascertain this situation as being a true dichotomy.

[suspicious android]

I think this may be an issue about what the pronouns are referring to.

The stimulus in this question says "this always permits more realistic planning". "This" is referring to functioning autonomously, not decentralization. So functioning autonomously always allows more realistic planning than non-autonomous organizations. Whether or not centralization could also lead to autonomy isn't important then, since we just need to know that if you're not autonomous, you are not maximally realistic.