Akela wrote:
Tania: A good art critic is not fair in the ordinary sense; it is only about things that do not interest one that one can give a truly unbiased opinion. Since art is a passion, good criticism of art cannot be separated from emotion.
Monique: Art is not simply a passion. The best art critics passionately engage with the artwork, but render their criticism only after shedding all of their biases and consulting general principles of aesthetics.
The dialogue most strongly supports the claim that Tania and Monique disagree about whether
(A) art is not simply a passion
(B) good art criticism is sometimes unbiased
(C) art critics should not feel emotion toward artworks
(D) fairness generally requires minimizing the influence of bias
(E) the passionate engagement of the art critic with the artwork is the most important aspect of art criticism
The question tests the ability to identify the relationship between two arguments.
Tania concludes that good criticism of art cannot be separated from emotion. Her premises are:
• A good art critic is not fair in any sense
• One can give a truly unbiased opinion only about things that do not interest one
• Art is a passion
• Good criticism of art cannot be separated from emotion
Monique concludes that art is not simply a passion. Her premises are:
• The best art critics are passionately involved with the artwork they assess
• But the art critics give their criticism only after getting rid of their biases
• The art critics give their criticism after consulting general principles of aesthetics
When we break down the arguments and compare their conclusions and premises, we see that their conclusions are different. However, we can also see that both their premises contain the word ‘bias’.
Tania feels that a good art critic is not fair and that it is not possible to give an unbiased opinion if one is interested in something.
Monique, on the other hand, feels that an art critic might be passionately involved with the artwork that he or she assesses, but is able to set aside the bias that arises out of the passion before giving his or her criticism.
So, what we see here is that the basis on which the two of them disagree is whether good art criticism is sometimes unbiased. That is what Option B states, so it is correct.
Option A is a direct restatement of Monique’s conclusion. Tania also says that art is a passion. So, Monique doesn’t disagree with Tania about this but extends the idea. So, Option A can be eliminated.
Both of them agree that art critics feel emotion about artwork. Option C contradicts Tania and Monique. So, Option C is incorrect.
Monique states that critics give their assessment after getting rid of their biases but Tania states that it one is truly unbiased only about things that do not interest one. So, both agree that to be fair requires minimizing bias. So, Option D can also be eliminated.
Neither one of them discusses what the most important aspect of art criticism is. So, Option E is out of scope.
Option B is therefore the most appropriate.
Jayanthi Kumar.
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Crackverbal Prep Team
www.crackverbal.com