#25 - One reason why European music has had such a strong

[Adam Tyson]

If the argument is that becoming independent of its original function is what makes certain music sophisticated, that would seem to conflict with the idea that music that depends on its original function is usually the most sophisticated. Sure, it might be true in some cases, but to say that it tends to be that way (meaning it is usually true) does run against the reasoning presented in the argument, and that is what makes it inconsistent.

[ashpine17]

the reason why i found d and e to be confusing is because with d, we aren't given information about what consists of the most sophisticated music and it's talking about what music "tends" to be and in the stimulus, we are only given information about why european music is sophisticated. how can we say d is contradicted by the information in the stimulus when we are only given a very narrow amount of info about only one type of music?

[Paul Popa]

Hi Ash,

Great question! I would respectfully argue that (D) is directly contradicted by what we're told in the stimulus, but yes, it can be tricky to see how. The author writes that the reason why European music is such a sophisticated achievement is because it is still coherent (or "intelligible") even when it is independent of its original function. Dance music has merit even when its listeners aren't dancing, sacred music is enjoyable even when not used alongside worship, etc. But (D) contradicts this idea entirely; it says that the most sophisticated music tends to be music that is unintelligible when it is presented independently of its original function. This completely undercuts the major point that the author is making: that because European music is still intelligible even when divorced from its original function that it achieves its sophistication. Hope this helps!