All art criticism is political because all art has political implicati

Question

All art criticism is political because all art has political implications. Clearly, the critic who chooses to address overtly an artwork's political implications is engaged in political discourse. But those critics who attempt a purely aesthetic evaluation of a work, and therefore ignore the work's political implications, necessarily, though perhaps inadvertently, end up endorsing the politics of the artist.

If the statements above are all true, which one of the following must also be true?

If the statements above are all true, which one of the following must also be true?

(A) Critics who overtly address an artwork's political implications rarely endorse art for art's own sake.

(B) Critics who are politically naive always attempt purely apolitical critiques of art.

(C) Art that makes an overt social or political statement is the sort of art with which critics are typically concerned.

(D) A political critique of a work of art has more value than any other sort of critique of that work.

(E) Art criticism that is intended to evaluate a work on purely aesthetic grounds never ends up rejecting the politics of the artist whose work is under review.

MartyMurray · Answer

All art criticism is political because all art has political implications. Clearly, the critic who chooses to address overtly an artwork's political implications is engaged in political discourse. But those critics who attempt a purely aesthetic evaluation of a work, and therefore ignore the work's political implications, necessarily, though perhaps inadvertently, end up endorsing the politics of the artist.

If the statements above are all true, which one of the following must also be true?

If the statements above are all true, which one of the following must also be true?

This is an Inference question, and the correct answer will be the one that "must be true" given what the statements in the passage say.

(A) Critics who overtly address an artwork's political implications rarely endorse art for art's own sake.

The passage does not indicate anything about how often critics "endorse art for art's own sake."

So, there's nothing in the passage that supports this choice.

Eliminate.

(B) Critics who are politically naive always attempt purely apolitical critiques of art.

The passage says that critics who attempt apolitical critiques may "inadvertently" endorse the politics of the artist, which could be taken as indicating that, in attempting apolitical critiques, critics may be acting naively.

At the same time, the passage does not indicate that critics who are politically naive attempt only apolitical critiques. Given what the passage says, politically naive critics could attempt both politically and apolitical critiques.

Thus, this choice does not have be true.

Eliminate.

(C) Art that makes an overt social or political statement is the sort of art with which critics are typically concerned.

The passage does not say anything indicating what sort of art critics are typically concerned with. Rather, it discusses only how critics choose to evaluate art.

Eliminate.

(D) A political critique of a work of art has more value than any other sort of critique of that work.

The passage says nothing about the "value" of different types of critiques.

Eliminate.

(E) Art criticism that is intended to evaluate a work on purely aesthetic grounds never ends up rejecting the politics of the artist whose work is under review.

This choice is perfectly supported by the last sentence of the passage.

After all, if it's true that "critics who attempt a purely aesthetic evaluation of a work ... necessarily ... end up endorsing the politics of the artist," then it must be true that the criticism of such critics "never ends up rejecting the politics of the artist whose work is under review."

After all, if such critics are "endorsing" the politics of the artist, then they must not be rejecting the politics of the artist.

So, if the statements in the passage are true, this choice must be true.

Keep.

Correct answer:   E

WiziusCareers1 · Answer

Deconstructing the Logical Chain 
Let's break the argument into its core components:
 Premise 1:  All art has political implications.
 Premise 2:  Therefore, all art criticism is political.
 Premise 3:  If a critic addresses politics overtly, then they are engaged in political discourse.
 Premise 4:  If a critic attempts a purely aesthetic evaluation (ignoring politics), then they necessarily end up endorsing the politics of the artist.

Why (E) is the Correct Answer  
 Statement (E):  Art criticism that is intended to evaluate a work on purely aesthetic grounds never ends up rejecting the politics of the artist whose work is under review.
 The Logic:  Premise 4 explicitly states that if you try to be "purely aesthetic" and ignore the politics, you necessarily (which means "must" or "always") end up endorsing the politics.
 The Inference:  If you are always endorsing the politics in this scenario, it is logically impossible for you to be rejecting them. "Endorsing" and "Rejecting" are mutually exclusive in this context. Therefore, if you must endorse, you never reject.
This is a direct restatement of the final sentence of the passage.

In these questions, incorrect answers usually fail because they are too "strong" (using words like always or rarely without evidence) or they introduce topics not mentioned in the text.
(A) Critics who overtly address an artwork's political implications rarely endorse art for art's own sake.
 Reason to Eliminate:  The passage tells us what these critics are doing (engaged in political discourse), but it doesn't tell us what they don't do. We have no information about how often they endorse "art for art's sake." They might do it frequently alongside their political discourse.

(B) Critics who are politically naive always attempt purely apolitical critiques of art.
 Reason to Eliminate:  The passage never mentions "politically naive" critics. We cannot infer the personality or knowledge level of the critics from their choice of methodology. This introduces a new concept not found in the premises.

(C) Art that makes an overt social or political statement is the sort of art with which critics are typically concerned.
 Reason to Eliminate:  The passage discusses how critics approach art, but it doesn't say which type of art they prefer or are "typically concerned" with. It applies its logic to all art, not just overtly political art.

(D) A political critique of a work of art has more value than any other sort of critique of that work.
 Reason to Eliminate:  This is a value judgment. The passage is a descriptive argument (how things are), not a normative one (how things should be). It never ranks the "value" of one critique over another; it only defines their nature.

guddo · Answer

All art criticism is political because all art has political implications. Clearly, the critic who chooses to address overtly an artwork's political implications is engaged in political discourse. But those critics who attempt a purely aesthetic evaluation of a work, and therefore ignore the work's political implications, necessarily, though perhaps inadvertently, end up endorsing the politics of the artist. 
 
If the statements above are all true, which one of the following must also be true?

The passage says all art criticism is political. Critics who openly discuss political implications are political, and critics who try to ignore politics still end up endorsing the artist’s politics.  So even supposedly aesthetic criticism has a political result .

(A) Critics who overtly address an artwork's political implications rarely endorse art for art's own sake.

Wrong. The passage says such critics engage in political discourse, but it does not say they rarely value art for its own sake.

(B) Critics who are politically naive always attempt purely apolitical critiques of art.

Wrong. The passage does not discuss politically naive critics.

(C) Art that makes an overt social or political statement is the sort of art with which critics are typically concerned.

Wrong. The passage says all art has political implications, not that critics usually focus on overtly political art.

(D) A political critique of a work of art has more value than any other sort of critique of that work.

Wrong. The passage says all criticism is political in some sense, but it does not rank one kind of criticism above another.

(E) Art criticism that is intended to evaluate a work on purely aesthetic grounds never ends up rejecting the politics of the artist whose work is under review.

Correct. The passage says critics who attempt a purely aesthetic evaluation end up  endorsing  the artist’s politics. If they endorse the artist’s politics, then they do not reject it.

Answer: (E)

yc168 · Answer

OE for reference:

Overview:  
For questions like this that ask you to figure out what has to be true if all the statements in the passage are true, efforts to analyze the structure of the passage are often not the best use of your time. Simply read the passage carefully and then turn to the answer choices to see which of them is fully supported by information in the passage. Typically, you will find that you can eliminate some answer choices very quickly, leaving you with just two or three to consider in detail.

The Correct Answer:

E  If a purely aesthetic evaluation of a work of art necessarily ends up endorsing the politics of the artist, then it never ends up rejecting the politics of the artist. Thus Choice (E) must be true if the third sentence of the passage is true.

The Incorrect Answer Choices:

A  The only claim made in the passage about critics who overtly address an artwork's political implications is that they are engaged in political discourse. Nothing is stated or implied about whether such critics might also endorse art for art's own sake, or about how common such endorsement might be.

B  The passage makes no explicit mention of critics who are politically naive. There is some suggestion that critics who attempt purely aesthetic evaluations of a work might be politically naive since they are said to end up endorsing the politics of the artist, though perhaps inadvertently. But there is no indication that politically naive critics do not sometimes attempt political critiques of art.

C  The passage does say that all art has political implications. If this statement is true, then it must also be true that the artworks with which art critics are concerned are works with political implications. But from this it does not follow that they are works that make an  overt  social or political statement.

D  The passage does not compare the value of a political critique of a work of art with that of any other kind of critique. So (D) has no support from the statements in the passage.

All art criticism is political because all art has political implicati

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GMAT Critical Reasoning (CR) Questions

All art criticism is political because all art has political implicati

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