Q19 - Geneticist: Genes, like viruses

[ManhattanPrepLSAT1]

The conclusion of the argument is that genes are not selfish. The evidence for this is that genes self-replicate and that selfishness only concerns bringing about the best conditions for oneself. The assumption is that creating replicas does not bring about the best conditions for oneself. That is best expressed in answer choice (B).

If you’d like to see this in formal notation...

G → CR (premise)
CR → ~BC (assumption)
~BC → ~S (contrapositive of second premise)
---------------
G → ~S (conclusion)

(A) is irrelevant. How important something is, is not discussed.
(B) Perfectly restates the gap in the argument.
(C) Is irrelevant. The argument never addresses the difference between the behavioral definition and the everyday definition of selfishness.
(D) Does not apply as the argument does not ignore that self-replication is not limited to genes. The argument acknowledges that viruses also self-replicate.
(E) Undermines the conclusion that genes are not selfish. This answer choice says that we don’t know whether genes are selfish but the argument says that the label is a misnomer. In other words, genes are not selfish.