Monty Python and the Unholy Formal Logic
One issue that a lot of people have with the LSAT is the inability to accept as true what they’re told to accept as true. Everywhere on the test – both reading comp and logical reasoning – you’re provided with rules, facts and statistics. It’s vital to remember that, at least for the purposes of answering the questions, that information is the gospel.
Monty Python and the Holy Grail is one of my all-time favourite movies – if you’ve never seen it, you need to immediately correct that gap in your life. In fact, when you have a rainy (or snowy) day to kill, have a Monty Python marathon (be sure to include Life of Brian and The Meaning of Life in your playlist). I saw the Holy Grail so many times as a teenager that I can still recite much of it by heart. My law school roommate and I actually rented (this was back in olden times when “rented” actually meant “went to a video store and borrowed VHS tapes”) the entire Flying Circus TV series to watch as comic relief while studying for exams.
One thing that Monty Python loved to do was play word games – twist language in a way that on its face seems perfectly fine, but when you think about it you realize the absurdity. There’s no better example of Python twisty logic than the Witch scene. [link for text: ]
Here’s the true genius of the scene: it’s clearly ridiculous logic, but on first watching it’s tough to argue that she’s not actually a witch. In fact, if you accept the premises, you actually can conclude that she’s a witch.
Let’s turn the argument into an LR Inference question to illustrate:
Both witches and wood burn. Witches burn because they are made out of wood. Wood floats in water, as do bread, apples, and, perhaps, small rocks. Ducks also float in water. Accordingly, if a woman weighs the same as a duck, she must be made out of wood.
If the statements above are true, and if it’s also true that all women made out of wood are witches, which of the following must be true?
a) if that woman over there (who may or may not have turned someone into a newt) with the false nose weighs the same as a duck, she’s a witch.
Would you have the fortitude to select (a) as the correct answer? You should! Remember, it’s never your job to determine whether the info provided is true – the question stem tells you it’s true!