Walter: A copy of an artwork should be worth exactly what the original

Question

Walter: A copy of an artwork should be worth exactly what the original is worth if the two works are visually indistinguishable. After all, if the two works are visually indistinguishable, they have all the same qualities, and if they have all the same qualities, their prices should be equal.

Marissa: How little you understand art! Even if someone could make a perfect copy that is visually indistinguishable from the original, the copy would have a different history and hence not have the same qualities as the original.

Marissa uses which of the following techniques in attempting to refute Walter’s argument?

(A) Attacking his assumption that the price of an artwork indicates its worth

(B) Raising a point that would undermine one of the claims on which the conclusion is based

(C) Questioning his claim that a perfect copy of a work of art would be visually indistinguishable from the original

(D) Giving reason to believe that Walter is unable to judge the quality of a work of art because of his inadequate understanding of the history of art

(E) Proposing alternative criteria for determining whether two works of art are visually indistinguishable.

Same passage with different question  LINK

KyleWiddison · Accepted Answer

A - Worth is not part of the argument

B - Correct - Marissa's point is that there are other qualities of artwork outside the visual appearance that generate value. This undermines Walter's point that once two works are visually indistinguishable they have ALL the same qualities.

C - Marissa's main purpose is to show that even with a perfect copy the qualities would still be different

D - Marissa is talking about the value of individual artwork when she talks about "history" not Walter's knowledge of the overall "history of art"

E - Marissa is proposing alternative criteria for determining the underlying qualities of artwork, not how to determine their visual similarity

sonaketu · Answer

One more for B.
Walter: they have all the same qualities thus (conclusion) prices should be equal
Marissa: does not have the same qualities as the original. 

Thus Marissa refutes the point (same qualities) on which Walter's conclusion is based.

adkikani · Answer

GMATNinja   VeritasPrepKarishma

Can you please explain why we choose (B) over (A) ?

GMATNinja · Answer

"Attacking his assumption that the price of an artwork indicates its worth" - This basically implies that an artwork's price will reflect its worth (i.e. it won't be overpriced or under-priced). For example, if a store is closing and has to sell all of its inventory quickly, the prices might not reflect the worth of the items on sale (the items might be under-priced since the store needs to get rid of them).

Sure, Walter's argument does not refer to the possibility of over-pricing or under-pricing, but Marissa does not address that point. Regardless of whether an artwork is priced appropriately, what are we basing the  appropriate  price on?

According to Walter, two works that are visually indistinguishable have "all the same qualities." According to Marissa, even if the original and a copy ARE visually indistinguishable, "the copy would have a different history and hence  not  have the same qualities as the original."

Marissa's point undermines Walter's claim that "if the two works are visually indistinguishable, they have all the same qualities." So (B) is the best answer.

I hope this helps!

Anandanwar · Answer

Hello,

Choice B: Raising a point that would undermine one of the claims on which the conclusion is based

Here 'the' conclusion will mean the main conclusion of the argument as a whole.
The main conclusion is "prices should not be equal".

'the claim' is that copy and original will have the same qualities. This claim supports Walter's conclusion ("Prices should be equal"). This claim opposes the main conclusion ("prices should NOT be equal").

Thus the main conclusion is not supported by the Walter's claim.

By this Choice B seems to be wrong.

Could you please shed some light on where I have gone wrong?

Thanks!

MartyTargetTestPrep · Answer

Hi Anandanwar.

Notice that the question is about techniques Marissa uses "in attempting to refute Walter’s argument." So, the correct answer will be about Marissa's and Walter's arguments, not about another, more general argument.

Thus, "the conclusion" in choice (B) is Walter's conclusion, "their prices should be equal," which is supported by his claim "if the two works are visually indistinguishable, they have all the same qualities."

Marissa attacks Walter's argument by raising a point that would undermine that claim, as choice (B) says.

AndrewN · Answer

You seem to have lost sight of the question stem,  Anandanwar , which asks us to pay attention to how Marissa aims  to refute Walter's argument . Hence,  the argument  in (B) is understood to refer to that of Walter. It would be nonsensical to suggest that Marissa was hoping to undermine her own argument. In light of this new interpretation, we can see how answer choice (B) is correct. I will use the  exact  phrasing of the passage.

Walter: Claim—  have all the same qualities, their prices should be equal.

Marissa: Counterargument—  not have the same qualities as the original   the copy would have a different history.

Perhaps the question makes more sense now. The question frame can prove integral to assessing the answer choices, so be conscious of it. Good luck with your studies.

- Andrew

ChiranjeevSingh · Answer

Let me talk about option D.

The following modified version of option D would be correct, I believe:

(D') Giving reason to believe that Walter is unable to judge the quality of  works of art  because of his inadequate  understanding of art

The given option D is incorrect since:

1. It mentions the quality of a work of art. There is no specific work of art discussion by Walter.
2. Marissa says that Walter doesn't much understand art. She doesn't say that Walter doesn't much understand  the history of art .

AnishPassi · Answer

The Story     
 
Walter: A copy of an artwork should be worth exactly what the original is worth if the two works are visually indistinguishable.  – Walter says that if an artwork and its copy are visually indistinguishable, they should be worth exactly the same. ( Really? Sounds counterintuitive. Consumers usually attach a value to ’originality’ as well, and not just the visual appearance. I understand very little about NFT’s. But, by this logic, it seems there should not be any market for NFT’s. Let’s see. Perhaps Walter will give reason(s) for why he believes so. )

After all, if the two works are visually indistinguishable, they have all the same qualities, and if they have all the same qualities, their prices should be equal.  – Hmm. Walter does give a reason here.
Visually indistinguishable = All the same qualities*
All the same qualities = Prices should be equal
( *I’m thinking consumers usually attach a value to non-visual as well – such as who was the artist. So, I’m not entirely convinced by Walter’s logic here. )

Marissa: How little you understand art!  – It seems that Marissa doesn’t agree with Walter’s logic.

Even if someone could make a perfect copy that is visually indistinguishable from the original, the copy would have a different history and hence not have all the same qualities as the original.  – Marissa talks about ’history of artwork’. She implies that history of the artwork is also a quality of the artwork. Since the history of an original artwork and its copy would not be the same, even if two pieces of artwork are visually indistinguishable, they do not have all the same qualities. ( This is in line with what we thought of earlier. Basically, artwork could have non-visual qualities too. )

Question Stem

Marissa uses which of the following techniques in attempting to refute Walter’s argument? 
 
What is Walter’s argument? If two pieces of artwork are visually the same, they have all the same qualities. If two pieces of artwork have all the same qualities, their prices should be equal. That’s why a copy of an artwork should be worth exactly the same as the original as long as they are visually the same (main point).

Marissa does refute Walter’s argument.

How does she do it?
By pointing out that there are non-visual elements (artwork’s history) of ‘quality of artwork’ too.

I’ll look for an answer choice that highlights this aspect.

Answer choice analysis

A. Attacking his assumption that the price of an artwork indicates its worth
   Incorrect.   Our objective is very specific: How does Marissa refute Walter’s argument. Our objective is not to simply find a flaw in Walter’s argument. Walter’s argument is based on the assumption that links ‘equal price’ with ‘equal worth’.

However, Marissa isn’t concerned about this point. In her rebuttal, she highlights how ‘visually indistinguishable’ doesn’t imply ‘all the same qualities’. She doesn’t get into price and worth.

B. Raising a point that would undermine one of the claims on which the conclusion is based
    Correct.    Let’s break down this answer choice.

‘the conclusion’: This means Walter’s conclusion. His conclusion is that ‘a copy of an artwork should be worth exactly what the original is worth if the two works are visually indistinguishable’.

On what claims is the conclusion based?
1. If two pieces of artwork are visually the same, they have all the same qualities.
2. If two pieces of artwork have all the same qualities, their prices should be equal.

Does Marissa undermine one of these claims?
Yes, she does.
She highlights that even if two pieces of artwork are visually the same, they will still have different history, and hence they will not have all the same qualities. (She undermines the first claim mentioned above.)

This answer choice is correct.

C. Questioning his claim that a perfect copy of a work of art would be visually indistinguishable from the original
   Incorrect.    Marissa doesn’t get into whether a perfect copy would be visually indistinguishable. In fact, in her rebuttal she mentions “Even if someone could make a perfect copy that is visually indistinguishable from the original …”. So, she grants Walter that a perfect copy could be visually indistinguishable.

D. Giving reason to believe that Walter is unable to judge the quality of a work of art because of his inadequate understanding of the history of art
   Incorrect.   This one is the most commonly selected incorrect answer choice on GMAT Club. Let’s break down the statement.

Does Marissa give a reason to believe that Walter is unable to judge the quality of a work of art?
I believe she does. Marissa highlights how there are non-visual qualities of artwork too (its history). Based on that, I do get a reason to believe that Walter is unable to judge the quality of a work of art.

So, actually, I’m fine with this answer choice thus far.

Let’s continue now.

Does Marissa indicate that Walter isn’t able to judge the quality of artwork “ because of his inadequate understanding of the history of art “?

Nope.

Marissa doesn’t question Walter’s understanding of the history of art. Rather, she points out how Walter has altogether ignored the history of art in determining qualities and thereby the price and worth of artwork.

Based on what Marissa said, we can understand that Walter doesn’t consider artwork’s history a quality of artwork. However, we don’t learn anything about whether Walter understands the history and whether that understanding is inadequate. It is very much possible that Walter has adequate understanding of the history of art, but he doesn’t believe that history is a quality of artwork and that it should impact its price.

E. Proposing alternative criteria for determining whether two works of art are visually indistinguishable.
   Incorrect.   Nope. She never gets into criteria for determining visual  indistinguishness  (is that even a word?). She doesn’t propose any alternative criteria for this.

Paras96 · Answer

Marissa is attempting to refute Walter's argument by:

(B) Raising a point that would undermine one of the claims on which the conclusion is based.

Walter's conclusion is based on the claim that if two works of art are visually indistinguishable, their prices should be equal. Marissa undermines this claim by raising the point that even if a perfect copy is visually indistinguishable, it would have a different history and hence not have the same qualities as the original. This challenges the basis of Walter's conclusion, which relies on the assumption that visual indistinguishability alone should determine the price and worth of an artwork.

Raman109 · Answer

Understanding the argument -
Walter: A copy of an artwork should be worth exactly what the original is worth if the two works are visually indistinguishable. - Conclusion. Conditional. If the two works are visually indistinguishable, then it's a sufficient condition or enough or 100% guaranteed that the copy is worth exactly the same as the original.
After all, if the two works are visually indistinguishable, they have all the same qualities, - Fact. Explain the conditional relationship. "visually indistinguishable" is sufficient or enough for a 100% guarantee for "same qualities."
and if they have all the same qualities, their prices should be equal. - Fact. Explain the conditional relationship. "same qualities" is sufficient or enough for a 100% guarantee for prices to be equal.

Marissa: How little you understand art! - Conclusion.
Even if someone could make a perfect copy that is visually indistinguishable from the original, the copy would have a different history and hence not have the same qualities as the original. - Challenges Walters' conditional "visually indistinguishable" is 100% guaranteed of "same quality." Marissa points out that even if they are "visually indistinguishable," the qualities can differ as their history differs.

Option Elimination -

(A) Attacking his assumption that the price of an artwork indicates its worth - Out of scope. The relationship between "price" and "worth" is not even discussed in the argument.

(B) Raising a point that would undermine one of the claims on which the conclusion is based - Yes.

(C) Questioning his claim that a perfect copy of a work of art would be visually indistinguishable from the original - No. Marissa doesn't question that the perfect copy can be "visually indistinguishable," which is the opposite of what she does.

(D) Giving reason to believe that Walter is unable to judge the quality of a work of art because of his inadequate understanding of the history of art - "inadequate understanding" is out of scope.

(E) Proposing alternative criteria for determining whether two works of art are visually indistinguishable. - "Alternative criteria" is out of scope.

rmahe11 · Answer

In D it does say "how little you understand of art" so how can we choose B over D. ?

GMATNinja · Answer

Take another look at the exact wording of (D):
 
Does Marissa accuse Walter of having an "inadequate understanding of the history of art"?

Not quite. Remember that they are discussing the  worth  of a piece of art. They both agree that the worth of art is based on its "qualities." They just disagree on WHICH qualities contribute to the worth.

Walter says that the only qualities are  visual  ones. Marissa refutes this by saying that the  history  of a piece of art is also a quality. Here, she's not accusing him of not  understanding  the history of art -- it could be that Walter knows everything about art history! She's just arguing that he doesn't properly  value  history when discussing the price of a work of art. When she says "How little you understand art!" she's criticizing the fact that Walter doesn't include history in his calculation of art prices. That's different than saying that he doesn't understand art history.

(D) is out because it doesn't capture Marissa's argument.

I hope that helps!

VerbalBot · Answer

Hello from the GMAT Club VerbalBot!

Thanks to another GMAT Club member, I have just discovered this valuable topic, yet it had no discussion for over a year. I am now bumping it up - doing my job. I think you may find it valuable (esp those replies with Kudos).

Want to see all other topics I dig out? Follow me (click follow button on profile). You will receive a summary of all topics I bump in your profile area as well as via email.

Walter: A copy of an artwork should be worth exactly what the original

Prep Toolkit

Top 5 GMAT Debrief Videos

615 to 715 in 15 Days (Ria's Strategies)

More than Quant/Verbal Abilities: Speed vs. Accuracy

745 with Only Self-Prep and GMAT Club

From 555 to 765: 210-point Improvement

Perfect 805 Score Debrief by Julia

My Rewards

GMAT Critical Reasoning (CR) Questions

Walter: A copy of an artwork should be worth exactly what the original

Prep Toolkit

615 to 715 in 15 Days (Ria's Strategies)

More than Quant/Verbal Abilities: Speed vs. Accuracy

745 with Only Self-Prep and GMAT Club

From 555 to 765: 210-point Improvement

Perfect 805 Score Debrief by Julia

My Rewards