Surrealist: Many artists mistakenly think that models need be taken

CHOICE A )
For me the Author concludes
An artist work should not merely represents objects from outside the psyche


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r19,


The surrealist states that, "human sensibility can confer beauty upon even the most vulgar external objects"; furthermore, according to the surrealist, the power of artistic representation can be used to "preserve and reinforce" objects, which implies that art could be used to capture the beauty of a very vulgar external object. Choice D certainly seems consistent with the surrealist's argument and point of view; however, it does not, as stated in the question stem, accurately express the conclusion of the surrealist’s argument. According to the surrealist, "using the power of artistic representation solely to preserve and reinforce objects that would exist even without artists" (ie external objects) is an ironic waste, and artists are mistaken if they think "models need be taken only from outside the psyche". Thus, the surrealist's conclusion is that "an artist’s work should not merely represent objects from outside the psyche" (choice A). In summary, just because choice D is an opinion most likely shared by the surrealist does not mean that it represents the conclusion of the surrealist's argument.

I am confused between choice A and E; can anyone explain why choice E is wrong?

Surrealist: Many artists mistakenly think that models need be taken only from outside the psyche . Although human sensibility can confer beauty upon even the most vulgar external objects, using the power of artistic representation solely to preserve and reinforce objects that would exist even without artists is an ironic waste.

Which one of the following most accurately expresses the conclusion of the surrealist’s argument?

A- An artist’s work should not merely represent objects from outside the psyche.
B- Artistic representation is used solely to preserve and reinforce objects. Already mentioned in premise. Cannot again appear as conclusion
C- Artists should not base all their work on mere representation. Author is not questioning the art of representation but how it is used.
D- Great art can confer beauty even upon very vulgar external objects. We don't know what great art means. All we know is that human sensibility can confer beauty.
E- True works of art rarely represent objects from outside the psyche.

In the argument it is mentioned that "Many artists mistakenly think that models need be taken only from outside the psyche".
The same is reflected in option E; so why is it incorrect.
Kindly explain.

You cannot deduce that "Many artists mistakenly think that models need be taken only from outside the psyche" implies true work of art. Author hasn't told you what does he consider as true work of art.

First of all, choice (E) does not say quite the same thing as the first sentence of the passage. The first sentence says that "Many artists mistakenly think that models need be taken only from outside the psyche". This does not necessarily imply that most artists think that way or that most works of art reflect that way of thinking. The statement in choice (E) might be true based on the information in the passage, but it is not strongly supported.

Even if choice (E) were true, it would not express the conclusion of the argument. Is the surrealist's main goal to tell us that "true works of art rarely represent objects from outside the psyche."? No... that would simply describe what the artists are currently doing. The surrealist's main goal is to argue that the artists should not be doing what is described in choice (E).

Choice (A) accurately expresses this conclusion.

I hope that helps!

Thanks Atticus Finch/Atticus Finch.
Just quoting from Atticus Finch/Manhattanprep's post:
https://www.manhattanprep.com/lsat/foru ... tml#p23507

There's a couple things about Main Conclusion questions you should know to help you out here.

1. The correct answer is just a paraphrase of one of the ideas in the paragraph.

2. The conclusion will almost never be the last sentence (that's way too easy).

So first of all, does (E) paraphrase one of the ideas in the paragraph?

What does the author say about true works of art ?

Nothing. So (E) is hopeless. The author also never comments on the frequency of artworks based on objects inside the psyche vs. artworks based on objects outside the psyche.

Instead, the author is talking about value / worthwhile-ness / waste of art based on inside vs. outside the psyche.

The second thing to address here is "should we consider the last sentence the Conclusion"?

Clearly, there aren't any real Premise on Conclusion trigger words to go off of, so we have to use the meaning ...

Prem --supports--> Conclusion

We know from the "Although" that the 1st half of the 2nd sentence is really a counterpoint. So we only have two ideas at play in the author's core.

It's a mistake to think that models for art should be taken only from outside the psyche.
and
Using art solely to preserve and reinforce objects that would exist even without artists is an ironic waste.

Which idea supports the other? You can try the Why or Therefore Test. (I typically use the Why test)

We can see that the first sentence must be the Conclusion, because the second half of the second sentence gives a reason for believing the Conclusion.

It's a mistake to think that models for art should be taken only from outside the psyche.
Why?
Because
Using art solely to preserve and reinforce objects that would exist even without artists is an ironic waste.

Once again, when you're doing a Main Conclusion question, you should expect that the conclusion will almost always be the 1st sentence or a sentence in the middle (coming right after a "but/yet/however"). It will almost never be the last sentence.

Additionally, it will almost always be disagreeing with someone else's opinion/thought/notion.

So, once we've correctly identified the first sentence as the conclusion, we just need to find an answer choice that sounds like the first sentence.

(A) is a close paraphrase.

Notice that we're not focusing on the "FACT" that many artists mistakenly say something. We're focusing on the "OPINION" the author has that the artists are wrong to say it.

When authors are disagreeing with someone else's point of view, it's beneficial to take a sec to rephrase that point of view the way the AUTHOR sees it.

For example,
Many people believe that vanilla is the best flavor of ice cream. But chocolate contains more antioxidants.

Conclusion?
"vanilla is not the best flavor of ice cream"

=== other answers ==
(B) This is a distortion of what was actually said. By analogy, saying "Using an iPad solely as a paperweight is a waste" is not the same thing as saying "iPads are used solely as paperweights".

(C) The conclusion is about whether artists should base their work on models taken from inside vs. outside the psyche.

(D) This points to the clause prefaced by 'Although'. The main conclusion would never be prefaced by 'although/despite/while' type wording.

this question is rage inducing

Surrealist: Many artists mistakenly think that models need be taken only from outside the psyche. Although human sensibility can confer beauty upon even the most vulgar external objects, using the power of artistic representation solely to preserve and reinforce objects that would exist even without artists is an ironic waste.

Which one of the following most accurately expresses the conclusion of the surrealist’s argument?

A- An artist’s work should not merely represent objects from outside the psyche. - True as author says that solely representing objects already present outside mind is waste.
B- Artistic representation is used solely to preserve and reinforce objects. - This is wrong because he is talking about many artists which may or may not be true.
C- Artists should not base all their work on mere representation. - Mere representation of what? There is a point that surrealist is trying to make.
D- Great art can confer beauty even upon very vulgar external objects. - This can be inferred but is not the main conclusion of the argument.
E- True works of art rarely represent objects from outside the psyche. - He has not said what is true works of art is.

GMATNinja , Why is option C incorrect?

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­The conclusion of that argument is that "using the power of artistic representation solely to preserve and reinforce objects that would exist even without artists is an ironic waste."

In other words, it's a waste to only make art that represents objects from outside the "psyche". Those are the the objects that would "exist even without artists."

Here's option (C) again:
The author is fine with art representing things. He/she just cares about where those things arise from -- specifically, they should not be only from outside the psyche. That's why (C) is out, and (A) is the correct answer.

I hope that helps!­

The argument went straight over my head. 0 Comprehension