Gardener: The design of Japanese gardens should display harmony with

Question

Gardener: The design of Japanese gardens should display harmony with nature. Hence, rocks chosen for placement in such gardens should vary widely in appearance, since rocks found in nature also vary widely in appearance.

The gardener’s argument depends on assuming which one of the following?

(A) The selection of rocks for placement in a Japanese garden should reflect every key value embodied in the design of Japanese gardens.

(B) In the selection of rocks for Japanese gardens, imitation of nature helps to achieve harmony with nature.

(C) The only criterion for selecting rocks for placement in a Japanese garden is the expression of harmony with nature.

(D) Expressing harmony with nature and being natural are the same thing.

(E) Each component of a genuine Japanese garden is varied.

GMATNinja · Accepted Answer

Let's start with the conclusion: "rocks chosen for placement in   gardens should vary widely in appearance." How does the author arrive at that conclusion?

1) The design of Japanese gardens should display harmony with nature.
2) Rocks found in nature vary widely in appearance.
3) Hence, rocks chosen for placement in   gardens should vary widely in appearance.

We need to find an answer choice that MUST be true in order for the author's logic to hold:

(A) tells us that the rocks selected for a garden should reflect  every  key value of design. Does that have to be true in order for the argument to hold?

The passage focuses on only  one  key value: "harmony with nature." There could be many more values that are key in designing Japanese gardens (minimalism? a certain color palette? accessible walking paths?). The conclusion does not require that the selected rocks reflect  all  of these other potential values -- as long as they reflect harmony with nature, the conditions of the passage have been satisfied.

Because (A) does not HAVE to be true, it is not the correct answer.

From the information in the passage, we know that if you want the rocks in your Japanese garden to  look similar  to those found in nature, you should choose rocks that vary widely in appearance. But does having rocks that look similar to those found in nature help your Japanese garden  display harmony  with nature? Without (B), choosing rocks that vary widely in appearance might NOT help your garden display harmony with nature--in other words, choosing rocks that are like rocks in nature might NOT improve your garden's harmony with nature.

But if we assume (B), then imitating nature (i.e. choosing rocks that vary in appearance, just as the rocks in nature vary in appearance) DOES help to achieve harmony with nature in Japanese gardens. (B) fills the gap in the logic, so let's hang on to this one.

From the passage, we know that the selection of rocks should reflect harmony with nature. But is that the  only  criterion for selecting rocks for your garden? Maybe there are other requirements, such as size, color, magnetism, etc. Those other requirements would not interfere with the "expression of harmony with nature" requirement. So expression of harmony with nature does NOT have to be the   only   criterion for selecting rocks; instead, it can be one of several criteria.

(C) does not have to be true, so let's eliminate this one.

Consider a Japanese garden with a bunch of rocks that do NOT vary much in appearance. Well, those monotonous rocks are certainly  natural  objects. But, according to the passage,  being natural  objects is not enough. From that perspective, the logic in the passage does not rely on choice (D).

Also, a Japanese garden is a man-made and, thus,  unnatural  thing. If (D) is true, then it might be impossible for a Japanese garden--an unnatural thing--to express harmony with nature! So, if anything, we need to assume that (D) is NOT true in order for the argument to hold!

(D) is not the best choice.

All we know from the passage is that rocks found in nature vary widely in appearance. Thus, we want the  rocks  in our gardens to vary widely in appearance as well.

But does that mean that EACH component of a genuine Japanese garden is varied? Maybe, maybe not... For example, perhaps your garden contains some component that actually does NOT vary much in nature. If that's the case, then there would be no reason to vary that component in your garden.

The argument is only concerned with the variety of the rocks in Japanese gardens. (E)  might  be true, but it is not a  required  assumption.

(B) is the best choice!

prototypevenom · Answer

why not D?

what is the difference between B and D?

fitzpratik · Answer

Gardener: The design of Japanese gardens should display harmony with nature. Hence, rocks chosen for placement in such gardens should vary widely in appearance, since rocks found in nature also vary widely in appearance. ] (So, the gardener is stating that harmony with nature can be displayed by choosing varied rock, which is in turn imitation of the rocks found in nature)

The gardener’s argument depends on assuming which one of the following?

(A) The selection of rocks for placement in a Japanese garden should reflect every key value embodied in the design of Japanese gardens.  (Argument does not talk about japanese values)

(B) In the selection of rocks for Japanese gardens, imitation of nature helps to achieve harmony with nature.  (Similar to our prethinking-Correct))

(C) The only criterion for selecting rocks for placement in a Japanese garden is the expression of harmony with nature.  (The argument states that the criteria for achieving harmony is choosing different rocks, does not state criteria for choosing the rocks themselves)

(D) Expressing harmony with nature and being natural are the same thing.  (The argument does not talk about being natural-either for rock OR for the garden. Being Natural and to mimic a phenomenon seen in nature may not necessarily mean the same thing)

(E) Each component of a genuine Japanese garden is varied.  (The argument does not talk about other components of japanese garden)

mykrasovski · Answer

Dear experts, can you please explain the solution to the problem?

David nguyen · Answer

Gardener: The design of Japanese gardens should display harmony with nature. Hence, rocks chosen for placement in such gardens should vary widely in appearance, since rocks found in nature also vary widely in appearance.

Design -> Harmony with nature
Design ->rocks   should vary widely in appearance

What is the GAP here?

We know what the design should harmonize with nature and we should choose rocks that vary widely in appearance. And why should we do that? Does it do anything good to the design of the garden? The key design of the garden is harmony with nature. If we choose those rocks that vary widely in appearance, will they help that design to harmony with nature? There must be a missing link between rocks appearance and its harmony with nature.

The gardener’s argument depends on assuming which one of the following?

Every Key value: this seems exaggerated. There is only 1 value mentioned: Harmony with nature. (A) is out.
 
This matches out thought. Hang on to this.
 
This is tricky since it matches our thought as well. However, "only" is extreme since the argument does not say that this is the only way. Perhaps majority (80%)of the rocks should be chosen based on this criteria and the other 20% could be chosen based on something else . (C) is out.
 
This is irrelevant. The author does not imply this. (D) is out.
 
The gardener says that the rocks vary in appearance, not every component of the Japanese Garden. (E) is out.

(B) is the only choice remaining. (B) is the correct choice.

yc168 · Answer

OE for reference:

Overview:  
The gardener's argument concludes that the rocks chosen for placement in Japanese gardens should vary widely in appearance. Two claims support this conclusion: first, Japanese gardens should display harmony with nature, and second, rocks found in nature vary widely in appearance. You are asked to identify an assumption on which this argument depends.

The Correct Answer:

B  The gardener argues that, because rocks in nature vary in appearance, rocks in Japanese gardens should also vary in appearance. This suggests that, in this respect, Japanese gardens should imitate nature. But the argument does not say that Japanese gardens should imitate nature; instead, it claims that they should display harmony with nature. In order for that claim to help support the argument's conclusion, there must be some connection between imitating nature and displaying harmony with nature. (B) provides the needed connection, so it expresses an assumption on which the gardener's argument depends.

The Incorrect Answer Choices:

A  According to (A), the selection of rocks for Japanese gardens should reflect every key value embodied in those gardens' designs. But the argument is based on only one such value—that Japanese gardens should display harmony with nature. Even if this is among the key values mentioned in (A), the argument need not assume anything about whether Japanese gardens should reflect any other such values.

C  The argument need not assume that the expression of harmony with nature is the only criterion that must be met by rocks selected for placement in Japanese gardens. It can allow that there are other criteria. For example, a requirement that only durable rocks should be selected would not interfere with the argument.

D  The argument need not assume that expressing harmony with nature is the same thing as being natural. As long as varying the appearance of rocks in Japanese gardens helps to express harmony with nature, the argument is consistent with the possibility that expressing harmony with nature is not simply a matter of being natural.

E  (E) asserts that each component of a genuine Japanese garden is varied. But the argument only addresses the rocks chosen for placement in Japanese gardens, so it need not make any assumptions about their other components.

Gardener: The design of Japanese gardens should display harmony with

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