September 2009 LSAT
Section 3
Question 21
Tania: A good art critic is not fair in the ordinary sense; it is only about things that do not interest one that on...
Replies
Christopher on June 10, 2018
@joshuavt, with these questions you're trying to get at the heart of why the two speakers disagree. This means you need to establish what each speaker's conclusion is to see where the differ. Tania essentially argues that if someone is passionate about art, they will be unable to critique art fairly and dispassionately. Monique argues that even though someone is passionate about art, it is possible for them to critique art fairly and dispassionately by intentionally setting aside their biases.(B) gets to the point at issue by recognizing that while Tonia says that no art criticism is unbiased, Monique says that it can be if the art critic is intentional about it.
Where (C) goes wrong is that both speakers actually approach this point in the same way. They both seem to suggest that for a critic to be fair they must be dispassionate about whatever it is they are reviewing. However, both seem to admit that "a good art critic" (Tonia) and "the best art critics" (Monique) by nature will engage artwork passionately. So both would likely agree that (C) is false. From this point of agreement, they move in opposite directions to the actual point at issue, which is whether any art criticism can or cannot be fair/unbiased.
Does that help?
joshuavt on June 14, 2018
Yes thank you very much!amf on January 7, 2020
Why wouldn't it be A?alliehall21 on May 11, 2020
Why not A?gabbayne on May 1, 2021
Why not A?Victoria on May 2, 2021
Hi all,Happy to help!
We know for sure that Monique believes that art is not simply a passion because she explicitly says so.
Answer choice (A) is incorrect because we are not provided with enough information to support this conclusion. Tania says that art is a passion, but we do not know whether she believes that it is more than that. Therefore, we cannot conclude that this is the source of their disagreement.
Hope this helps! Please let us know if you have any further questions.