Music critic: Some people argue that, unlike certain works of Handel,

Question

Music critic: Some people argue that, unlike certain works of Handel, which set to music familiar religious texts, the organ symphonies of Louis Vierne are not religious music. Quite the contrary. Sitting in Notre Dame cathedral in Paris and hearing his organ symphonies demonstrates that Vierne’s works are divinely inspired.

The music critic’s reasoning is vulnerable to criticism on the ground that it

(A) takes for granted that all religious music is inspiring

(B) confuses two different meanings of the term “religious”

(C) overlooks the possibility that some organ music is not divinely inspired

(D) confuses two different meanings of the term “symphonies”

(E) takes for granted that all organ symphonies are religious music

AnirudhaS · Accepted Answer

This is a 'Flaw in the reasoning' question type. So first the author states "Some people argue that, unlike certain works of Handel, which set to music familiar religious texts, the organ symphonies of Louis Vierne are not religious music.".

This means two things - 
1. Handel's music is religious, related to religions as we know it - Christianity, Islam etc. This is because 'religious texts' are referred to here.
2. Vierne's is NOT religious music, as in not related to traditional religions, or probably not played in Churches or Mosques for example.

The second part author states that Vierne's work is 'divinely inspired'. Now the reference of divine here has nothing to do with religion per se. As another example, lets say someone can say that a latest song in a different genre is divinely inspired - does not make it actually related to divine stuff (religious music). So the author has not used the word religiously in the same way in both the instances.

IMO the answer is B.

shameekv1989 · Answer

Music critic: Some people argue that, unlike certain works of Handel, which set to music familiar religious texts, the organ symphonies of Louis Vierne are not religious music. Quite the contrary. Sitting in Notre Dame cathedral in Paris and hearing his organ symphonies demonstrates that Vierne’s works are divinely inspired.

The music critic’s reasoning is vulnerable to criticism on the ground that it

(A) takes for granted that all religious music is inspiring

(B) confuses two different meanings of the term “religious”

(C) overlooks the possibility that some organ music is not divinely inspired

(D) confuses two different meanings of the term “symphonies”

(E) takes for granted that all organ symphonies are religious music

Some people claim :- 
H's music is religious. 
V's organ music is not religious.

Author claim :-
V's organ music is religious since hearing organ symphonies demonstrates that V's music is divinely inspired

Organ symphonies -> V's music is divinely inspired -> V's music is religious

So Author is taking 2 things for granted 
i) All organ symphonies are divinely inspired
ii) All divinely inspired works are religious music

Answer - C captures point i) and hence the answer

rahat16 · Answer

argument analysis : 
Clritics claim is that Organ symphonis of L.Vierne are not religious music becasue unlike works of Handel L.Vierne's work is not based on religious texts. 
Based on this he concludes L.Vierne's work in not devinely inspired .
Conclusion : If music not based on religious text , its not devinely inspired . 
 pre-thinking  we dont know if it is mandatory for music to be basd on religious text for it to be devinely inspired.

(A) takes for granted that all religious music is inspiring -- irrelevant , becasue we are discussin that what are the organ symphonies inspired by ; not if music is inspiring

(B) confuses two different meanings of the term “religious” - - irrelevant

(C) overlooks the possibility that some organ music is not divinely inspired --this sounds correct

(D) confuses two different meanings of the term “symphonies” - he compares symphonies of Handel and L.Vierne but not the meaning of term "symphonies"

(E) takes for granted that all organ symphonies are religious music -- this is exterme as it is generalizing all organ symphonies. it may actually be opposite becasue he is saying organ symphonies of L.Vierne are not religious

vamkrispk · Answer

Divinely inspired
can anyone in simple terms 
what that phrase means please

Adit_ · Answer

Nice question.

Some People:
He/She says that the organ symphonies aren't religious music because it is NOT from religious texts.

Music Critic:
He/She says that it IS religious music because it is divinely inspired.

Clearly we see two different meanings of the term "religious" here. And it could be that all religious music must be divinely inspired, but the argument must attack the "religious texts" part and not avoid that and move to a different tangent. Thus this is the flaw.

Music critic: Some people argue that, unlike certain works of Handel,

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GMAT Critical Reasoning (CR) Questions

Music critic: Some people argue that, unlike certain works of Handel,

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