Vanwilligan: Some have argued that professional athletes receive unfai

Question

Vanwilligan: Some have argued that professional athletes receive unfairly high salaries. But in an unrestricted free market, such as the market these athletes compete in, salaries are determined by what someone else is willing to pay for their services. These athletes make enormous profits for their teams’ owners, and that is why owners are willing to pay them extraordinary salaries. Thus the salaries they receive are fair.

Vanwilligan’s conclusion follows logically if which one of the following is assumed?

(A) The fairest economic system for a society is one in which the values of most goods and services are determined by the unrestricted free market.

(B) If professional athletes were paid less for their services, then the teams for which they play would not make as much money.

(C) The high level of competition in the marketplace forces the teams’ owners to pay professional athletes high salaries.

(D) Any salary that a team owner is willing to pay for the services of a professional athlete is a fair salary.

(E) If a professional athlete’s salary is fair, then that salary is determined by what an individual is willing to pay for the athlete’s services in an unrestricted free market.

SaiPavanR · Answer

Picked option E initially

Realised that it is stating the reverse logic.

logic in the argument: Willing to pay -> fair pay

Option E is stating the reverse logic. Hence E is wrong.

Option A, B and C are irrelevant to the conclusion.

Option D is the assumption

winterschool · Answer

Vanwilligan: Some have argued that professional athletes receive unfairly high salaries. But in an unrestricted free market, such as the market these athletes compete in, salaries are determined by what someone else is willing to pay for their services. These athletes make enormous profits for their teams’ owners, and that is why owners are willing to pay them extraordinary salaries. Thus the salaries they receive are fair.

Vanwilligan’s conclusion follows logically if which one of the following is assumed?

(A) The fairest economic system for a society is one in which the values of most goods and services are determined by the unrestricted free market.  Incorrect

The fairest economic system is irrelevant to argument

(B) If professional athletes were paid less for their services, then the teams for which they play would not make as much money.  Incorrect

not a fact in argument
 
(C) The high level of competition in the marketplace forces the teams’ owners to pay professional athletes high salaries.  Incorrect

this somehow weakens argument because openers pay high salaries for other conditions, not for athletes services
 
(D) Any salary that a team owner is willing to pay for the services of a professional athlete is a fair salary.  Incorrect

cant be an assumption, if owners pay less to athletes that cant be a fair salary 
 
(E)  If a professional athlete’s salary is fair, then that salary is determined by what an individual is willing to pay for the athlete’s services in an unrestricted free market.   Correct

a fair salary is based on the services given by athletes

Bunuel · Answer

EXPLANATION FROM Fox LSAT

Wait, just because someone is willing to pay a certain amount, that amount is “fair”? No way. The term “fair” is a normative one. People are allowed to make independent judgments about what they think is “fair” and what is not. Some people (free market extremists, Republicans, Libertarians) would certainly agree that any price that anybody will ever pay is “fair.” On the other hand, a populist might say that just because a starving person might pay his last $100 for a single loaf of bread doesn’t mean that it’s a “fair” or just price. Vanwilligan has assumed that anything anyone is willing to pay is automatically “fair.” If we were willing to assume that this is actually true, then his reasoning would be tight. So “anything anyone is willing to pay is fair” is probably the answer here.

A) It’s not about what systems are fair and what are not. It’s about whether these particular athletes are receiving a fair salary. This isn’t it. I want something closer to our prediction.

B) What? Not what we’re looking for.

C) Again, not what we’re looking for.

D) There we go. If D is true, then we really can’t argue with Vanwilligan. Thus, we can say that Vanwilligan’s conclusion “follows logically” (i.e., “is proven.”) This must be it.

E) We’re looking to prove that something is fair, so an answer choice that starts with “if X is fair” can’t possibly get us there. We’d have to assume our conclusion, which is not allowed.

Our answer is D.

Bunuel · Answer

EXPLANATION FROM POWER PREP

Vanwilligan argues that the salaries received by professional athletes are fair because they make enormous profits for their teams' owners, which in turn justifies the owners' willingness to pay them. Even though his argument is an economic one, the conclusion takes a more ethical, or moral stance: instead of saying simply that athletes' salaries are justified by the market conditions in which they are determined, Vanwilligan claims that they are fair.

You should immediately notice the logical gap between an employer's willingness to pay a high salary and that salary's inherent fairness. If the fairness of an athlete's compensation is determined by factors other than employers' willingness to pay for it, the argument would fall apart. To prove Vanwilligan's conclusion, you should look for an answer choice that overcomes that weakness. At the very least, your answer must address the issue of fairness — leaving you to consider only answer choices (A), (D), and (E).

Answer choice (A): This answer choice is at once too broad and too narrow. Even if the fairest economic system is one in which the values of most services are determined by the free market, it does not follow that a particularly high salary is fair — this only ensures the fairness of the system that allows it to exist. This answer choice strengthens the argument but does not provide sufficient support to prove the conclusion.

Answer choice (B): Even though this answer choice provides additional reasons for paying professional athletes more for their services, this is still an economic argument and not an ethical one — even if such salaries are necessary, that does not mean that they are fair. This answer choice is incorrect.

Answer choice (C): This answer choice might explain why teams' owners are forced to pay professional athletes high salaries, but it fails to prove that such salaries are fair. This answer choice is incorrect.

Answer choice (D):  This is the correct answer choice. If any salary that a team owner is willing to pay is a fair salary, the conclusion follows logically from the rest of the argument. See discussion above.

Answer choice (E): Because it connects employers' willingness to pay a given salary to that salary's inherent fairness, answer choice (E) may seem attractive at first. However, notice that this answer choice does not  prove  that a professional athlete's salary is fair; rather, it  presumes  that it is, and then provides the rationale for its determination as a condition necessary for its fairness. Answer choice (E) is the Mistaken Reversal of what we need, and is therefore incorrect.

Davronjon · Answer

Vanwilligan's conclusion follows logically if we assume option (D) Any salary that a team owner is willing to pay for the services of a professional athlete is a fair salary. This assumption directly connects the willingness of team owners to pay high salaries with the fairness of those salaries. If we accept this assumption, then the argument that the athletes' salaries are fair because they are determined by what someone else is willing to pay for their services becomes valid.

(C) The high level of competition in the marketplace forces the teams’ owners to pay professional athletes high salaries. This statement explains a possible reason for the high salaries but does not address the fairness of those salaries, which is the main focus of the argument. The argument's logic depends on the connection between the willingness to pay and the fairness of the salary, not just the fact that competition forces high salaries.

Let's briefly examine the other options:

(A) The fairest economic system for a society is one in which the values of most goods and services are determined by the unrestricted free market.

This statement is not an assumption that the argument relies on because it deals with the fairest economic system for a society in general, not the fairness of professional athletes' salaries specifically.

(B) If professional athletes were paid less for their services, then the teams for which they play would not make as much money.

This statement is not an assumption on which the argument depends because the argument does not rely on the counterfactual scenario where athletes are paid less. The focus is on the actual salaries and their fairness.

(E) If a professional athlete’s salary is fair, then that salary is determined by what an individual is willing to pay for the athlete’s services in an unrestricted free market.

This statement reverses the logic of the argument and is not an assumption it relies on. The argument claims that if the salary is determined by what someone is willing to pay, then it is fair. This statement asserts that if the salary is fair, it must be determined by the unrestricted free market, which is not a necessary assumption for the argument.

In summary, option (D) is the correct assumption, as it directly connects the willingness to pay with the fairness of the salary. Option (C) does not address the fairness of the salaries and is therefore not a necessary assumption for the argument to be valid.

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VerbalBot · Answer

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Vanwilligan: Some have argued that professional athletes receive unfai

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