#6 - Global Reference, Weaken

[Administrator]

Question Line Reference
(See the complete passage discussion here: lsat/viewtopic.php?t=11388)

The correct answer choice is (B)

The justification for the correct answer can be found on:

(lines 52-54)

Since the author believes that Davis’ lack of critical acclaim was due to numerous shifts in style and misunderstanding critics, this argument would certainly be weakened if there were many other artists who were just as eclectic and received critical acclaim regardless.

[lsatstudent2]

Hi, what is wrong with A?

[Jeff Wren]

Hi lsatstudent2,

This question is asking for an answer that would weaken (or "undermine") the author's explanation for the way Miles Davis is regarded by jazz critics.

The first step in answering this question is identifying what is the author's explanation for the way Miles Davis is regarded by jazz critics.

According to the passage, the critics didn't like/understand Miles Davis because of his many musical stylistic innovations/changes throughout his career. This explanation appears several times in the passage, mainly lines 3-8 and 45-58.

This is a causal explanation. According to the author, Davis's constant innovations/stylistic changes is the cause, and the critics' dislike of him is the effect.

In order to weaken the author's explanation, the correct answer has to weaken this causal explanation, most likely in one of the usual ways to weaken a causal argument that appear in logical reasoning such as providing an alternate cause, showing examples of the cause occurring without the effect, etc..

Answer B shows the stated cause (radical stylistic changes) occurring without the stated effect (critics' dislike), which is why this answer is correct.

The problem with Answer A is that the author never claimed that improvisational jazz was the reason that critics disliked Miles Davis. In fact, if anything, it was the fact that Davis didn't just do "improvisational playing" (which would be what the critics were probably expecting and would have preferred), but instead edited those improvisational recordings like a movie director that the critics didn't like (lines 38-48).