People often praise poems for their truth. But to argue that

Question

People often praise poems for their truth. But to argue that expressing true propositions contributes to the aesthetic merit of a poem is misguided. Most of the commonplace beliefs of most people are true. Whatever the basis of poetic excellence is, it must certainly be rare rather than common.

Which one of the following most accurately describes the role played in the argument by the claim that whatever the basis of poetic excellence is, it must certainly be rare rather than common?

(A) It is the overall conclusion drawn by the argument.

(B) It is a premise that, in conjunction with another premise, is intended to support the argument's conclusion.

(C) It is a premise offered as the sole support for the argument's conclusion.

(D) It is background information that, in itself, does not provide support for the argument's conclusion.

(E) It is a proposition for which the argument seeks to advance an explanation.

bidskamikaze · Answer

People often praise poems for their truth. But to argue that expressing true propositions contributes to the aesthetic merit of a poem is misguided. Most of the commonplace beliefs of most people are true. Whatever the basis of poetic excellence is, it must certainly be rare rather than common.

Which one of the following most accurately describes the role played in the argument by the claim that whatever the basis of poetic excellence is, it must certainly be rare rather than common?

CONCLUSION: to argue that expressing true propositions contributes to the aesthetic merit of a poem is misguided.
PREMISE 1: Most of the commonplace beliefs of most people are true. 
PREMISE 2:  Whatever the basis of poetic excellence is, it must certainly be rare rather than common.

(A) It is the overall conclusion drawn by the argument.
 - INCORRECT

(B) It is a premise that, in conjunction with another premise, is intended to support the argument's conclusion.
 - CORRECT.

(C) It is a premise offered as the sole support for the argument's conclusion.
 - INCORRECT. It is not the sole premise.

(D) It is background information that, in itself, does not provide support for the argument's conclusion.
 - INCORRECT

(E) It is a proposition for which the argument seeks to advance an explanation.
 - INCORRECT

IMO B.

tommychudw · Answer

Requesting a proper explanation for this please.. HELP!

RiyaJ0032 · Answer

can someone please provide an explanation for (B)?

Isn't (B) invalidating our conclusion?

because if most commonplace beliefs are true and "truth contributes to aesthetic merit of poem" is a common belief, then author's conclusion that - this belief is misguided or that the aesthetic merit of a poem is not in it's expression of truth would be invalidated since most common place beliefs are true

any expert, please help

MartyMurray 
 DmitryFarber

egmat · Answer

RiyaJ0032  - I understand your doubt. Can you answer how you inferred "truth contributes to aesthetic merit of poem" is a commonplace belief?

You have to think about the structure of the argument here. What the author wants to argue is that "expressing true propositions contributes to the aesthetic merit of a poem" is incorrect. To support his argument, presents two pieces of evidence:

1. Most of the commonplace beliefs of most people are true.
2. Whatever the basis of poetic excellence is, it must certainly be rare rather than common?

If I were to draw a parallel argument.

The assertion that the iPhone is the dominant phone in the USA because of its usability is flawed. Most Phones today are just as usable as the iPhone. Whatever the reason for iphone's dominance is, it has to be something other than usability.

The last statement here is clearly supporting the main conclusion.

Let me know if this helps.

RiyaJ0032 · Answer

hi  egmat !

so yes, the last statement is definitely supporting our conclusion which is why I thought (C) was the answer

with (B), I have a doubt with this statement - "  Most of the commonplace beliefs of most people are true" , how is this contributing to the conclusion?

additionally, how I inferred what I did was because - 
 1) People often praise poems for their truth 
 2) author says that to think "true propositions contribute to aesthetic merit" is misguided

this means there are people who think that because a poem expresses truth, therefore the truth contributes to aesthetic merit of a poem 
 because for the author to say the statement is misguided, we need to have someone believing the statement, who would they be? 
 Maybe the ones who praise poems for expressing truth (And because they do it often, thought it's a commonplace belief)

egmat · Answer

RiyaJ0032  - Read C again and tell me what is wrong with it. Hint - it is just one word.

ManifestDreamMBA · Answer

Context : People often praise poems for their truth. 
 Conclusion : But to argue that expressing true propositions contributes to the aesthetic merit of a poem is misguided.  - Meaning it is not right to argue that Truth contributes to merit of the poem. But why? let's see 
 Premise : Most of the commonplace beliefs of most people are true.  Because truth is common, suggesting in that regard every poem should be praised but author is saying it is incorrect. his indicates, it is something else 
 Premise:  Whatever the basis of poetic excellence is, it must certainly be rare rather than common.  Okay, he is saying he doesn't know what it is but believes it to be rare and not common

We need to confirm what is the role of this line : Whatever the basis of poetic excellence is, it must certainly be rare rather than common.

(A) It is the overall conclusion drawn by the argument.   We know that, last line is not the conclusion, out

(B) It is a premise that, in conjunction with another premise, is intended to support the argument's conclusion.   Thats true, the line is a premise and supports conclusion along with other premise

(C) It is a premise offered as the sole support for the argument's conclusion.   it's not the only premise, we have another one

(D) It is background information that, in itself, does not provide support for the argument's conclusion.   The first line the the background not the last

(E) It is a proposition for which the argument seeks to advance an explanation.   This suggests, it is a conclusion but it is not

RiyaJ0032 · Answer

egmat , I think with (C) you are pointing me to the word "sole support" which is wrong
implying both the premises and not just the last one supports the conclusion

I was skeptical at first how this statement- "  Most of the commonplace beliefs of most people are true" supports the author's contention

But I think I understand now that,
author is saying "truth" is common because most commonplace beliefs are true
and for something to contribute to poetic excellence, it has to be rare not common

DmitryFarberMPrep · Answer

You've got it. Here's a paraphrase of the argument: People believe lots of true things, so truth is really common. But poetic excellence must be based in something rare, so it's wrong to say that telling the truth makes poems excellent.

So the question you were wondering about is a premise that supports the idea that truth is something common. They set that up in contrast to their idea that poetic excellence must be based in something rare. They then use that setup to trigger the idea that truth must not contribute to poetic excellence.

It's certainly not a very sound argument, but all we have to do on this one is ID the role of the claim in question. Since the claim is presented without any evidence, but is used to support the final conclusion, it's one of the premises (but not the only one).

RiyaJ0032 · Answer

Thanks so much 
 egmat  
 DmitryFarber  
for clearing my doubt!!

egmat · Answer

RiyaJ0032  - glad we could help!

People often praise poems for their truth. But to argue that

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People often praise poems for their truth. But to argue that

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