Monica: The sculpture commissioned for our town plaza has been scorned

Question

Monica: The sculpture commissioned for our town plaza has been scorned by the public ever since it went up. But since the people in our town do not know very much about contemporary art, the unpopularity of the work says nothing about its artistic merit and thus gives no reason for removing it.

Hector: You may be right about what the sculpture's popularity means about its artistic merit. However, a work of art that was commissioned for a public space ought to benefit the public, and popular opinion is ultimately the only way of determining what the public feels is to its benefit. Thus, if public opinion of this sculpture is what you say, then it certainly ought to be removed.

The argument Hector makes in responding to Monica depends on the assumption that

(A) no matter what the public's opinion is on an issue affecting the public good, that public opinion ought to be acted on, even though the opinion may not be a knowledgeable one

(B) Monica's assessment of the public's opinion of the sculpture is accurate

(C) If the sculpture had artistic merit, then even a public that was not knowledgeable about modern art would not scorn the sculpture

(D) Works of art commissioned for public spaces ought not to be expected to have artistic merit

(E) If the public feels that it does not benefit from the sculpture, this shows that the public does not in fact benefit from the sculpture

broall · Answer

(A) no matter what the public's opinion is on an issue affecting the public good, that public opinion ought to be acted on, even though the opinion may not be a knowledgeable one
 The argument Hector makes doesn't imply that public opinion ought to be acted on regardless the public knowledge. Eliminated

(E) If the public feels that it does not benefit from the sculpture, this shows that the public does not in fact benefit from the sculpture
 Correct. Hector means that public feelings are in fact public benefits.

nks2611 · Answer

hii expert , can you tell me whether i am wrong or not ?

i think the answer should be related with sculpture's artistic value and public's benefits. form that . that's only options E states .

please help !
thanks

broall · Answer

Choice B restated what was already mentioned in passage. Hence choice B is not the correct answer.

"Thus,  if public opinion of this sculpture is what you say , then it certainly ought to be removed."

urhowig · Answer

Can someone tell me how to negate option C ? 
IMO, it was between C and E. As option C closely bridges the gap of both the arguments, I choose it.

ramworld · Answer

Option C is too confusing and extreme, too many negated statement.
However a direct deduction could be 
 Statement B is kind of repeated by the prompt in first 2 sentences.
A repeated statement is never a correct answer choice in CR.

bb · Answer

Really appreciate if you can clarify about the choice B

gmatkilled · Answer

can any one shed some light on this one please........ please

nazgull · Answer

Hector has used Monica's statement in order to provide his own argument. The question stem is centric to Hector's argument:

You may be right about what the sculpture's popularity means about its artistic merit.  
-> A counter premise. Notice that Hector has considered Monica's assesment as RIGHT (repeated in B)

However, a work of art that was commissioned for a public space ought to benefit the public, and popular opinion is ultimately the only way of determining what the public feels is to its benefit. 
-> The premise of Hector's argument.

Thus, if public opinion of this sculpture is what you say, then it certainly ought to be removed.  
-> Hector's conclusion

My assessment of the options:

A. This is PREMISE of Hector's argument
B. This is the COUNTER PREMISE used by Hector.
C. Irrelevant
D. Irrelevant
E.  CORRECT  As this clearly links the PREMISE and CONCLUSION of Hector's argument.

ramworld · Answer

Cant come up with a concrete explanation. Maybe experts from e-GMAT or Magoosh can help.

shekyonline · Answer

Monica: The sculpture commissioned for our town plaza has been scorned by the public ever since it went up. But since the people in our town do not know very much about contemporary art, the unpopularity of the work says nothing about its artistic merit and thus gives no reason for removing it.

Hector: You may be right about what the sculpture's popularity means about its artistic merit. However, a work of art that was commissioned for a public space ought to benefit the public, and popular opinion is ultimately the only way of determining what the public feels is to its benefit. Thus, if public opinion of this sculpture is what you say, then it certainly ought to be removed.

The argument Hector makes in responding to Monica depends on the assumption that

(A) no matter what the public's opinion is on an issue affecting the public good, that public opinion ought to be acted on, even though the opinion may not be a knowledgeable one
The main idea - 
Hector thinks 'and popular opinion is ultimately the only way of determining what the public feels is to its benefit. '
He assumes/thinks public can determine that what is beneficial to the public.

public may not know artistic value of it but their opinion ?
There is no mention of whether the opinion is knowledgeable or not.

(B) Monica's assessment of the public's opinion of the sculpture is accurate
May or may not be . 'You may be right about'

(C) If the sculpture had artistic merit, then even a public that was not knowledgeable about modern art would not scorn the sculpture
Irrelevant.
(D) Works of art commissioned for public spaces ought not to be expected to have artistic merit
No mention/ Irrelevant.
(E) If the public feels that it does not benefit from the sculpture, this shows that the public does not in fact benefit from the sculpture
Hector thinks 'and popular opinion is ultimately the only way of determining what the public feels is to its benefit. '
This is what Hector assumes. Correct.

Kanika3agg · Answer

Monica: The sculpture commissioned for our town plaza has been scorned by the public ever since it went up. But since the people in our town do not know very much about contemporary art, the unpopularity of the work says nothing about its artistic merit and thus gives no reason for removing it.

Hector: You may be right about what the sculpture's popularity means about its artistic merit. However, a work of art that was commissioned for a public space ought to benefit the public, and popular opinion is ultimately the only way of determining what the public feels is to its benefit. Thus, if public opinion of this sculpture is what you say, then it certainly ought to be removed.

Pre- thinking - Conclusion - Sculpture should be removed as it doesnt benefit public.
Argument - Public space art should be commissioned for public benefit.
Argument - Public benefit is decided by popularity of the public opinion.

Assumption - Public knows what is good for their benefit.

The argument Hector makes in responding to Monica depends on the assumption that

(A) no matter what the public's opinion is on an issue affecting the public good, that public opinion ought to be acted on, even though the opinion may not be a knowledgeable one -  Good option to consider because his argument is based on popularity of the opinion and not on the soundness of the opinion. Can be considered.

(B) Monica's assessment of the public's opinion of the sculpture is accurate -  This has been countered in Hector's argument. He said " if public opinion of this sculpture is what you say" so his argument became independent of the accuracy of monica's assessment
 
(C) If the sculpture had artistic merit, then even a public that was not knowledgeable about modern art would not scorn the sculpture -  We are not concerned about the artistic merit of the sculpture as much as we are about what is benefiting public.

(D) Works of art commissioned for public spaces ought not to be expected to have artistic merit -  This was only one case where the artistic merit is not going with public popularity but not so true in other cases. So, very extreme statement.

(E) If the public feels that it does not benefit from the sculpture, this shows that the public does not in fact benefit from the sculpture -  A very good candidate as it takes the assumption that public knows what is good for their benefit.

Between A and E, A's language seems very extreme as compared to E, So, A is eliminated and E - answer.

CEdward · Answer

Just probing further. I am inclined to think that the conditional signified by 'if' indicates a sense of uncertainty rather than a definitive claim about the truth of Monica's statement.

bidskamikaze · Answer

Notice the portion in  BLUE . This clearly shows that the author believes that whatever the public feels is the reality.

(E) If the public feels that it does not benefit from the sculpture, this shows that the public does not in fact benefit from the sculpture  - tells us just that!

Crytiocanalyst · Answer

The one crucial way of cracking the code is providing counterarguments and check whether it stands the test 
(A) no matter what the public's opinion is on an issue affecting the public good, that public opinion ought to be acted on, even though the opinion may not be a knowledgeable one
We don't know whether the removal of art will help in the public good

(B) Monica's assessment of the public's opinion of the sculpture is accurate
Monica never evaluvated the sculpture she just portrayed the image of public perception of the art

(C) If the sculpture had artistic merit, then even a public that was not knowledgeable about modern art would not scorn the sculpture
we don't know on what basis is the public acting there could be multiple facets on which people are acting upon

(D) Works of art commissioned for public spaces ought not to be expected to have artistic merit
No this is a absolutely pointless option public disagreement can be of multiple reasons

(E) If the public feels that it does not benefit from the sculpture, this shows that the public does not in fact benefit from the sculpture
This exactly what ere loooking for

Hence IMO E

VerbalBot · Answer

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Monica: The sculpture commissioned for our town plaza has been scorned

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Monica: The sculpture commissioned for our town plaza has been scorned

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