#11 - Must Be True, Subject Perspective

[kat]

How come the answer to question 11 can't be E? I think I can see why B is right, but I thought that the author mentioned historical circumstances, not Lessing.

[Steve Stein]

Hi Kat,

Thanks for your question. As is often the case with incorrect answer choices to Must Be True questions, Answer choice E has very strong language that cannot be justified by the passage; the author does not commit Lessing to the bold perspective that any artist who uses others' techniques cannot be considered innovative. Since this is not supported by the passage, it can be safely ruled out as a contender.

As for answer choice B, which deals with historical circumstances, that choice is correct based in part on lines 37-43: All art, explains Lessing...originality of vision...Thus Vermeer is acclaimed for having inaugurated, in the seventeenth century, a new way of seeing...

I hope that's helpful! Please let me know whether that clears everything up--thanks!

~Steve

[hrhyoo]

Hi Powerscore,

I am still not sure why B is correct. In my opinion, the author mentions "historical achievement" in order to express that the painting was created in a certain style by Vermeer for the first time hence making it original and creative. There is no information about the circumstances at the time when Vermeer drew the painting nor how those circumstances affected V in creating the work: if the passage states that there was a war happening during that time and the painting somehow reflected the effect of the war, then yes, B is correct.

As for E, I do agree that the language is quite strong but I thought the passage supports this answer choice better than B because at least this passage gives us one incident/example of E - Meegeren forging Vermeer hence not innovative - but no information about any historical circumstances surrounding the creation of a work and how those circumstances affect the assessment of the work.

Please help! I really want to be able to think like LSAT makers so I could score well. I don't want to argue with them... sigh...

Thank you in advance.


Hanna

[Paul Marsh]

Hi Hanna! Your goal of wanting to think like the test-makers is the right one. Here's how a test-maker would look at this problem: for these kind of Must be True questions in Reading Comprehension, we want to be able to point to something specific in the passage to support our answer choice. This question is asking specifically about Lessing's beliefs, not those of the author, so to find that support I am going to be looking solely at the third paragraph of the passage (where the information about Lessing is contained). So, we even think about looking at the answer choices, we want to briefly scan the information in that paragraph, and see what it supports about Lessing's beliefs. After looking at the paragraph, we can Pre-Phrase a few possible answers: "a forged work can be equal to the original in aesthetic qualities", "forged works can be flawless", "forged works are inferior because of a lack of originality of vision", "originality of vision can mean a new way of seeing at the time", etc. With those in mind, I come down to the answer choices. Answer Choice (B) has clear support from the final sentence: "Thus Vermeer is acclaimed for having inaugurated, in the seventeenth century, a new way of seeing, and for pioneering techniques for embodying this new way of seeing through distinctive treatment of light, color, and form." This sentence tells us that Vermeer's "new way of seeing" didn't exist yet in the 17th century, and that Vermeer essentially invented it - this is a "historical circumstance". You are defining "historical circumstances" too narrowly when you're specifically looking for non-artistic historical events of the time, such as a war. Again, that sentence is telling us how artists at Vermeer's time painted, which certainly is a historical circumstance.

Answer Choice (E) finds almost no support in that third paragraph, which means that we can't ascribe that belief to Lessing. Steve is right up above when he says that it is too strongly worded. There are a couple other problems with it: (E) discusses the artist as a whole whereas Lessing is only discussing individual forged works of art. Furthermore, (E) finds the use of techniques developed by others sufficient to merit the label "not innovative". Lessing, however, is not interested in what causes being not innovative; his thoughts in the passage are directed more at what a lack of innovation means - and for Lessing, it means that a work can't be as artistically great as the original. If we were to fix those problems and make answer choice (E) read something like "A work of art that is not innovative cannot be artistically great," it would still be a strongly worded answer choice but there would be much more support in the passage for picking it. Hope that helps!

[hrhyoo]

Hi Paul,

Thank you for your detailed response. I understand why E is incorrect now, but I still don't like B all that much. Regardless, your response helped me understand this question better.

Thanks again,

H