LSAT 118 | Section 1 | Logical Reasoning: Q10

LR Question 10 Explanation

QUESTION TEXT: Rachel: Though contemporary artists are pleased to …

QUESTION TYPE: Point At Issue

ARGUMENTS: RACHEL’S ARGUMENT: People can only make great art if they struggle to express themselves due to boundaries. Therefore, freedom has reduced the quality of art.

JAMES’ ARGUMENT: Modern art isn’t actually worse than earlier art. People only think that because they forgot about bad art from the past but remember bad art from the present.

ANALYSIS: They disagree about whether current art is worse than art from the past. Rachel thinks art has declined in quality, while James thinks that’s a mistaken belief based on recency bias.

___________

1. CORRECT. Rachel thinks yes, James thinks no.
2. Rachel says contemporary artists are freer, but James never discusses artistic constraints at all.
3. Rachel clearly believes this. James never addresses what conditions are necessary for great art. He only talks about how people compare art across eras.
4. James is clearly committed to something close to this. Rachel never discusses what happens to inferior art from past eras.
5. Neither of them say this. Rachel thinks contemporary art is worse, but she is obviously assessing contemporary art. James thinks contemporary art is unfairly judged, which also presupposes that it can be assessed.