If all works of art evoke intense feelings, and this sculpture is a work of art, then it follows that this sculpture ...

shunhe on July 2, 2020

Hi @ginakd,

Thanks for the question! So first, before we get to the answer choices, let’s diagram the stimulus since the answer choice will be the one most parallel to the stimulus. Here’s an acceptable way of doing so:

Work of art —> Evoke intense feelings
Sculpture —> Work of art
Subconclusion: Sculpture —> Evoke intense feelings
~ (Sculpture —> Evoke intense feelings)
Conclusion: ~(Sculpture —> Work of art) v ~(Work of art —>Evoke intense feelings)

It’s a little tricky because the conditional themselves are being used as premises kind of. But the idea is basically

B—>C
A—>B?Subconclusion: A—>C
But actually, ~(A—>C)
Which means one of the two premises have to be wrong. In other words, either
~(B—>C) or
~(A—>B)

Now we’re looking for something that’s most parallel. This is what (C) looks like:

Vitamin —> Safe in large doses
Beta-carotene —> Vitamin
Subconclusion: Beta-carotene —> Safe in large doses
~(Beta-carotene —> Safe in large doses)
Conclusion: ~(Vitamin—>Safe in large does) v ~(beta-carotene—>vitamin)

Which we can see is an exact match with the stimulus, so (C) is going to be the correct answer.

(D), on the other hand, is pretty close except for one part. Diagramming it out, we get

Science —> Rely heavily on math
Clinical psych —> Science
Sub-conclusion: Clinical psych —> Rely heavily on math
~(Clinical psych —> rely heavily on math)
Conclusion: ~(Clinical psychology—>Science)

And the difference here that makes (D) wrong is that there’s no “or” in the conclusion! Look at (C) and the stimulus; both of them conclude that either “this” OR “that” must be incorrect, not just that “this is incorrect. And so (D) is incorrect because of the very last sentence.

Hope this helps! Feel free to ask any other questions that you might have.