#7 - The stated goal of the government's funding program for

[Administrator]

Complete Question Explanation

Assumption—SN. The correct answer choice is (E)

This is a Supporter Assumption question. Senator Beton concludes that government funding of the arts not only is a burden on taxpayers but also cannot lead to the creation of works of true artistic excellence. This conclusion introduces the new idea about not creating works of true artistic excellence, so the correct answer choice must include that idea and link it back to the notion of government-funded artwork never reflecting the independent artistic conscience of the artist.

Answer choice (A): This answer does not include the notion of not creating works of true artistic excellence.

Answer choice (B): This answer does not include the notion of not creating works of true artistic excellence.

Answer choice (C): This answer does not include the notion of not creating works of true artistic excellence.

Answer choice (D): Again, while this answer talks about works of true artistic excellence, it does not include the idea that they will not be created.

Answer choice (E): This is the correct answer choice. As mentioned above, it perfectly links the new information in the conclusion back to the premises.

[nmpappas55]

Hello - I'm confused on how to diagram the stimulus in a conditional format. How do you diagram the word "because" in the standard sufficient necessary format?

[Rachael Wilkenfeld]

Hi nmpappas55

This is a great question. Part of your confusion lies, I believe, in the different ways "because" can be used. It can signal causal reasoning, which is I think what you were picking up on. But there's another way that "because" can be used. It can be a premise indicator. That's what we see here. The term isn't being used to show causal reasoning, but just to indicate that a premise of the argument is coming.

Let's turn to the conditional reasoning.

Premise: If gov funded---> Not reflect independent artistic conscious.

Conclusion If gov funded---> Cannot create work of true artistic excellence

From this, we see we need a premise to link not reflecting independent artistic consciousness and not being a work of true artistic excellence. Answer choice (E) is the only answer choice that does so.

Hope that helps.
Rachael

[heartofsunshine]

Hello there! I chose the correct answer E here, however answer choice C did look a bit tempting. I'm trying to understand exactly why C is wrong and E is right. I think what you are explaining is that C is wrong because it doesn't connect the premise to the conclusion? Thanks!

[KelseyWoods]

Hi Sunshine!

So for this Assumption question, we need to find an answer choice that is absolutely necessary for the conclusion that government-funded artwork cannot lead to the creation of works of true artistic excellence. We are looking for information that is required for government-funded artwork being unable to lead to works of true artistic excellence.

Answer choice (C) tells us that the distribution of government funds is based on a broad agreement as to what constitutes artistic excellence. But is that statement necessary for government funding being unable to lead to works of true artistic excellence? We can use the Assumption Negation Technique to find out! The Assumption Negation Technique basically tells us that if an answer choice is truly necessary to an argument, then if you negate (or take the opposite of) that answer choice, it should attack the argument. We take the opposite of answer choice (C) by adding a "not": "Distribution of government funds for the arts is NOT based on a broad agreement as to what constitutes artistic excellence." Does NOT having a broad agreement as to what constitutes artistic excellence attack my argument that government funding cannot lead to works of true artistic excellence? Not really. The author doesn't care whether there's an agreement as to what artistic excellence is or not. Just whether government funding can lead to it.

Try out the Assumption Negation Technique on answer choice (E). To take the opposite of answer choice (E) we need to eliminate a "not": "A contemporary work of art that does not reflect the independent artistic conscience of the artist CAN be a work of true artistic excellence." If we negate that answer choice, it attacks our conclusion that government-funded art cannot be a work of true artistic excellence because if you can still be a work of true artistic excellence even though you do not reflect the independent artistic conscience, then why wouldn't government-funded art be able to be works of true artistic excellence?

Hope this helps!

Best,
Kelsey

[lsatstudying11]

Hello!

I predicted that the correct answer would say something like truly excellent art must reflect the artist's conscience, or something like truly excellent art is not made by people trying to please the people who are giving them money for the art. Would that second idea also be an assumption of this argument--that is, does Senator Beton's argument also require the idea that art that is made with the attempt to please one's financial supporters cannot be truly excellent? Thank you!

[Rachael Wilkenfeld]

Hi LSATstudying,

We are trying to link the premise about independent artistic conscience with the conclusion about true artistic excellence. We are looking for something that says

independent artistic conscience true artistic excellence

or the contrapositive

true artistic excellence independent artistic conscience.

Your prephrase is getting at the contrapositive. The idea that art funded by others isn't independent, therefore it also isn't true artistic excellence. You are getting at the right ideas here, so way to go!

Hope that helps!