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Some of our federal legislators are opposed to government
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09 Sep 2010, 00:13
7
1
29
00:00
A
B
C
D
E
Difficulty:
95% (hard)
Question Stats:
40% (02:02) correct 60% (01:59) wrong based on 983 sessions
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Some of our federal legislators are opposed to government endowments or other financial support for photography as an art form on the basis that much of modern photography portrays nudity and is thus obscene. These legislators are mistaken, however, since even they would agree that Michelangelo's works of art, most of which depict nudity, are not obscene.
Which of the following statements, if true, would most seriously weaken the argument above?
(A) The artistic level of the works of the vast majority of modern photographers does not approach that of Michelangelo's works.
(B) Many modern photographic works of art have been displayed in museums alongside Michelangelo's works.
(C) The majority of Michelangelo's work was not funded or otherwise supported by the government.
(D) What these legislators consider to be obscene does not coincide with what the general citizenry views as obscene.
(E) Due to their relatively high artistic value, works of Michelangelo that portray nudity are not considered obscene.
Some of our federal legislators are opposed to government endowments or other financial support for photography as an art form on the basis that much of modern photography portrays nudity and is thus obscene. These legislators are mistaken, however, since even they would agree that Michelangelo's works of art, most of which depict nudity, are not obscene.
Which of the following statements, if true, would most seriously weaken the argument above?
(A) The artistic level of the works of the vast majority of modern photographers does not approach that of Michelangelo's works.
(B) Many modern photographic works of art have been displayed in museums alongside Michelangelo's works.
(C) The majority of Michelangelo's work was not funded or otherwise supported by the government.
(D) What these legislators consider to be obscene does not coincide with what the general citizenry views as obscene.
(E) Due to their relatively high artistic value, works of Michelangelo that portray nudity are not considered obscene.
Ok then. Let's break it down. Premises: - Some of our federal legislators believe that much of modern photography portrays nudity and is thus obscene. - Even they would agree that Michelangelo's works of art, most of which depict nudity, are not obscene. Conclusion: These federal legislators should not consider modern photography obscene. (He says they are mistaken so basically he is saying that they should not consider it obscene.)
Now think of what logic is being used in the argument above. It simply says: A has B and is thus considered C. D also has B but is still not considered C. So we should not consider A C.
A - Modern photography B - Nudity C - Obscene D - Mich. art
What is the flaw here? According to the argument, if there is nudity in art it is considered obscene. The reason why Mich's work is not considered obscene in spite of having nudity could be that his work has something else too.
Let me explain this with another example: My argument: You have a pen and thus can write. I have a pen but I cannot write. So you cannot write either. What can weaken my argument? How about: I have a broken arm because of which I cannot write in spite of having a pen.
Option (E) tells you that Michelangelo's work has high artistic value. That is why it is not considered obscene in spite of having nudity. This weakens the argument since Michelangelo's work has something extra and the same may not be applicable to modern photography.
Option (D) needn't be considered because general citizenry is not a part of the argument at all. The author is trying to convince the legislators that modern photography should not be considered obscene.
Option (A) has a disconnect with the argument. It says that 'The artistic level of the works of the vast majority of modern photographers does not approach that of Michelangelo's works.' but it doesn't say that Michelangelo's work is not considered obscene because of its high artistic value. It is as if you presented a difference between the two - modern photography and Mich's work but did not say how this difference impacts the argument. e.g. in the example above, if I say, "Your arm is absolutely fine unlike mine which is broken." it is not enough because I haven't said that because of my broken arm, I cannot write. (Remember, I have to mention this to present the relationship. What if my non-writing arm is broken.)
Now, I hope it makes more sense why the answer is (E).
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I picked up D I tht that the conclusion is "since even they would agree that Michelangelo's works of art, most of which depict nudity, are not obscene" Now the perception that Michelangelo's works of art is not nudity is of the general citizens, the legislators may not beleive so and exactly this is pointed out in D.
here we are askd to weaken the argument. The author states that the legislators were mistaken as they are against the art which depict nudity.but it could be that many others artists find this as an excuse and depict nudity in their art too which must be unnecessary.so the legislators were against these artists.but Michelangelo's works of art,being an exception bcoz of the high artistic value.
tough one. I went with D but the arguments for E make sense. but D does weaken to an extent. If legislators have a different view than citizens (including the guy making this statement), then the legislators might believe that michaelangelo's work is not obscene but the new photographer's is then the author's statement "These legislators are mistaken, however, since even they would agree that Michelangelo's works of art, most of which depict nudity, are not obscene" falls apart as the legislators are not mistaken but made a purposeful decision.
E for me. This is because Author's conclusion is that nudity is not obscene as MichaelAngelo's work contained nudity but was not considered obscene. So to weaken the argument all we need to do is state that MichaelAngelo's work is Nudity which is exactly done by E.
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its between A and E A should be eliminated because in that we are clearly assuming that Michaelangelo's work was superior than that of most current artists.This assumption is unfounded as there is no evidence of that in the stimuli.
E actually states that assumption above that Michaealangelo's work was indeed of high artisitic value which is not the case with current photographers.. therefore E.
On a different note, if only they had provided some photographs with this question, guess the comparison would have been much easier then
@VeritasPrepKarishma : Option (E) tells you that Michelangelo's work has high artistic value. That is why it is not considered obscene in spite of having nudity. This weakens the argument since Michelangelo's work has something extra and the same may not be applicable to modern photography.
Even here we are assuming that work of contemporary artist is not as good as it is of Michelangelo. It may be that contemporart artists are as good as or even better, and therefore there work would be artistic as well
However from the sentence "since even they would agree that Michelangelo's works of art, most of which depict nudity, are not obscene"
we get that Michelangelo was more artistic, and therefore A should suit more !!.
@VeritasPrepKarishma : Option (E) tells you that Michelangelo's work has high artistic value. That is why it is not considered obscene in spite of having nudity. This weakens the argument since Michelangelo's work has something extra and the same may not be applicable to modern photography.
Even here we are assuming that work of contemporary artist is not as good as it is of Michelangelo. It may be that contemporart artists are as good as or even better, and therefore there work would be artistic as well
However from the sentence "since even they would agree that Michelangelo's works of art, most of which depict nudity, are not obscene"
we get that Michelangelo was more artistic, and therefore A should suit more !!.
Option A: The artistic level of the works of the vast majority of modern photographers does not approach that of Michelangelo's works.
The reason A does not work is that it doesn't tell you how artistic level is related to obscenity. It does not give that if work is artistic, it is not considered obscene. It tells you that M's work is more artistic but so what? It doesn't say that 'more artistic work is not obscene' because of which it is irrelevant to our conclusion (even though in our mind it makes sense). The connection has to be explicitly mentioned.
Logic in the argument: P has N and is thus considered O. M also has N but is still not considered O. So we should not consider P O.
Option A says: P has less A than M. The point is, how is A related to O? We do not know. No impact on conclusion.
Option E says: M has high A and is hence not O. Here it gives an explanation why M's work is not considered O. Of course, it doesn't say that modern photography does not have high artistic value but the point is that it leaves open the possibility that it may not have high artistic value and hence weakens the conclusion. (Does not make the conclusion false, but only weakens it)
P - Modern photography N - Nudity O - Obscene M - Mich. art A - Artistic value
Think it makes more sense now?
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Some of our federal legislators are opposed to government endowments or other financial support for photography as an art form on the basis that much of modern photography portrays nudity and is thus obscene. These legislators are mistaken, however, since even they would agree that Michelangelo's works of art, most of which depict nudity, are not obscene.
Which of the following statements, if true, would most seriously weaken the argument above?
(A) The artistic level of the works of the vast majority of modern photographers does not approach that of Michelangelo's works.
(B) Many modern photographic works of art have been displayed in museums alongside Michelangelo's works.
(C) The majority of Michelangelo's work was not funded or otherwise supported by the government.
(D) What these legislators consider to be obscene does not coincide with what the general citizenry views as obscene.
(E) Due to their relatively high artistic value, works of Michelangelo that portray nudity are not considered obscene.
Premise 1 :Some of our federal legislators are opposed to government endowments or other financial support for photography as an art form on the basis that much of modern photography portrays nudity and is thus obscene.
Conclusion : These legislators are mistaken
Premise 2 : since even they would agree that Michelangelo's works of art, most of which depict nudity, are not obscene.
(A) The artistic level of the works of the vast majority of modern photographers does not approach that of Michelangelo's works. Irrelevant. This information doesn't affect the premise or the conclusion.
(B) Many modern photographic works of art have been displayed in museums alongside Michelangelo's works. so what ?, no impact
(C) The majority of Michelangelo's work was not funded or otherwise supported by the government. The discussion is about the legislators and not the funding by the government. Misleading...
(D) What these legislators consider to be obscene does not coincide with what the general citizenry views as obscene. Comparing legislators viewpoint and general citizens viewpoint doesn't impact the conclusion.
(E) Due to their relatively high artistic value, works of Michelangelo that portray nudity are not considered obscene.[/quote] This gives a explanation why Premise 2 cannot be used logically to conclude and oppose premise 1. This is the winner !!!
@VeritasPrepKarishma : Option (E) tells you that Michelangelo's work has high artistic value. That is why it is not considered obscene in spite of having nudity. This weakens the argument since Michelangelo's work has something extra and the same may not be applicable to modern photography.
Even here we are assuming that work of contemporary artist is not as good as it is of Michelangelo. It may be that contemporart artists are as good as or even better, and therefore there work would be artistic as well
However from the sentence "since even they would agree that Michelangelo's works of art, most of which depict nudity, are not obscene"
we get that Michelangelo was more artistic, and therefore A should suit more !!.
Consider following arguments: As per A:
You: "Because modern artists work approach does not follow that of Michelangelo, I don't agree their work of nudity" Author: "Why should their work approach follow Michelangelo, as long as they both contain nudity?"
In this argument you are lost!
Let us go with E: You:"Michelangelo work contains high artistic values. Because modern artists work does not have high artistic values I don't approve of their work" Author: "Hmmm...so for the government to support art that contains nudity, it should have high artistic values, no matter whose work it is"
Re: Some of our federal legislators are opposed to government
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13 Jan 2012, 10:01
i went with D initially but a re look at the passage showed me that the opinion of general public was never mentioned, so it is possible that legislators do not care about general public's perception at all. E is good here
gmatclubot
Re: Some of our federal legislators are opposed to government
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13 Jan 2012, 10:01
close
40% (02:02) correct 
