LSAT 109 | Section 1 | Logical Reasoning: Q10

LR Question 10 Explanation

QUESTION TEXT: Art historian: Great works of art have often elicited outrage…

QUESTION TYPE: Necessary Assumption

CONCLUSION: We should not hesitate to use public funds to support work that people find shocking.

REASONING: Great art is often shocking

ANALYSIS: There isn’t much reasoning here. We know some great art has been shocking. But it’s possible that most shocking art is terrible, and we shouldn’t support it.

The correct answer sidesteps the entirely issue and asks us to consider whether any art at all should receive public funding. If the answer is no then this argument is not good.

___________

1. It’s only necessary that some art worthy of funding is shocking. Most art doesn’t have to be.
2. That doesn’t matter. This funding was in the past. It tells us little about whether we should support art publicly now. Further, we don’t know if it was right to have supported those artists.
3. Even if art is exactly as shocking as it was previously, this argument would work.
4. CORRECT. If no art should receive public funding then it doesn’t matter at all whether art is shocking. No art should receive funding, period. 
5. It’s only necessary that some things that shock are art.