#2 - All works of art are beautiful and have something to

[Administrator]

Complete Question Explanation

Flaw in the Reasoning-SN. The correct answer choice is (C)

This stimulus presents the following flawed conditional reasoning:

Premise: all works of art are beautiful and have something to teach us:

• Beautiful
  
  Work of art +
  
  Something to teach
  
  Premise: The natural world is both beautiful and instructive;
  
  Conclusion: Therefore the natural world is a work of art:
  
  Beautiful
  
  Natural world: + work of art
  
  Something to teach

We can see from the above diagram that the author’s conclusion about the natural world reflects a mistaken reversal—the unjustified presumption that anything that displays the two listed attributes must be a work of art.

Answer choice (A): The argumentation of this stimulus does not require that the word “beautiful” be defined, so this answer choice cannot be correct.

Answer choice (B): This answer choice does not describe the mistaken reversal from our discussion above , so this answer choice is incorrect.

Answer choice (C): This is the correct answer choice. The flaw is that the author assumes that just because something is beautiful and instructive (two of art’s attributes), it must be a work of art.

Answer choice (D): There is no such presumption found in the author’s reasoning, so this answer choice is incorrect.

Answer choice (E): The argument does not require the consideration of such things outside the natural world, so this is not even a flaw, and certainly not the flaw found in the stimulus.

[EL16]

Hi,

I got this question correct and I understand why C is right and why A, D, and E are incorrect. However, can you explain to me what answer choice B is saying? I don't really understand what a stimulus that B is describing would look like.

Thanks,
Elana

[AthenaDalton]

Good question!

An evaluative conclusion would be one that uses a value judgment to reach a conclusion. Here's an example: "Painting A is the best one in the competition because it is the most beautiful." To reach such a conclusion, you would need to consider what "beautiful" means. It's a very subjective metric that's not grounded in facts, but the speaker's own opinion.

By contrast, a purely factual conclusion would look like this: "Painting A is the best one in the competition because it demonstrates a high level of technical skill, visual balance, and originality." These metrics are more quantifiable, so the conclusion of which painting is "best" is grounded in facts.

These are not concepts that come up frequently on the LSAT. If you see an answer choice that uses concepts you don't understand, eliminate it. They're often wrong.

Good luck studying!

[EL16]

Thank you for clearing that up!

[silent7706]

Hi,

Understandably this is an easy question for most, but I still paused over (C) because of the phrase "common to all".

Argument fails because it mistakens a necessary condition for a sufficient one. However, I didn't feel that the use of phrase "common to all" was precise in (C). "Common to all" allows exceptions, which means when an art of work is present, "beautiful and instructive" does not necessarily have to be present, hence violating the premise "All works of art are beautiful and have something to teach us."

Is my reasoning correct here? Can you please advise?

Thanks in advance.

[Brook Miscoski]

silent7706,

Please review the OP for a full explanation of the conditional reasoning.

In answer to your question:

"Common to all" is precise and does not allow exceptions. Depending on your familiarity with English and its idioms, which can be an issue for some people on the LSAT as it is increasingly taken by people who speak English as a second language, the meaning of "common to all" is clear. I think you are saying that the word "common" means "usual," and allows exceptions. The problem with your interpretation is that the word is contained in a phrase--by saying something is "common to all art," we are saying that all art has a commonality, shares those same attributes. When you see the phrase "common to all," it means that a quality is shared by the entire group. This could explain your trouble with (C).