LSAT 17, Logical Reasoning II, Q14, LSATHacks

LR Question 14 Explanation, by LSATHacks

QUESTION TEXT: Many artists claim that art critics find it easier to write…

QUESTION TYPE: Sufficient Assumption

CONCLUSION: Most criticism of art is devoted to works other than great works of art.

REASONING: Most art criticism is devoted to works of art that fail to satisfy the critic writing the review.

ANALYSIS: It would be very helpful to know whether critics write good reviews of great art. Critics are very negative; maybe they write poor reviews even of great art.

The correct answer E lets us prove the conclusion by showing that if a review is negative then the art wasn’t great.

___________

1. This doesn’t really affect the conclusion that most art criticism is not written about great works of art.
2. This doesn’t lead to our conclusion that most criticism is written about non-great art. Maybe critics aren’t fully satisfied even by great works.
3. That tells us something about great works. But it doesn’t tell us anything about what percentage of art that is reviewed is great art.
4. This doesn’t really do anything to the argument.
5. CORRECT. This does it. If a critic is reviewing great art then they will write a good review. Yet most reviews are bad. Therefore critics must generally write reviews about art that is not great (otherwise they would be satisfied.)

Recap: The question begins with “Many artists claim that art critics find it easier to write”. It is a Sufficient Assumption question. Learn more about LSAT Sufficient questions in our guide to LSAT Logical Reasoning question types.

Hi, I'm Graeme Blake

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