June 1999 LSAT Section 1 Question 24

We ought to pay attention only to the intrinsic properties of a work of art. Its other, extrinsic properties are irr...

Sangwook on November 30, 2014

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This is a strengthen with sufficient question, isn't it? To figure out this type of question, you have taught we must find the conclusion first. However, I am confused about which sentence is the conclusion on this stimulus. Since "therefore" is the most common conclusion flag, the last sentence seems like the one.("what is really aesthetically.....") However, I can't help but wonder if the first sentence is the conclusion("We ought to pay attention only to...."). Please, explain this. Thanks,

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Melody on December 10, 2014

You have correctly identified this as a Strengthen with Sufficient Premise question.

The conclusion, however, is the last sentence. The first sentence helps support the conclusion.

Why is it aesthetically relevant what a painting directly presents for one to experience as opposed to what the painting symbolizes? Because we should pay attention to the intrinsic properties of a work of art because extrinsic properties are not relevant to our aesthetic interactions with it. See how the first sentence is used to support the last? A conclusion will never be used to support any other sentence.

Now, let's diagram:

"We ought to pay attention only to the intrinsic properties of a work of art."

P1: PA ==> not EP (not EP = IP, but we want to keep variables consistent)
EP ==> not PA

"extrinsic properties are irrelevant to our aesthetic interactions with" a work of art.

P2: EP ==> not AR (not aesthetically relevant)
AR ==> not EP

"What is really aesthetically relevant, therefore, is not what a painting symbolizes, but what it directly presents to experience."

C: AR ==> not S
S ==> not AR

Answer choice (A) states: "What an artwork symbolizes involves only extrinsic properties of that work."

(A): S ==> EP
not EP ==> not S

Does this strengthen? Yes.

Answer choice (A) explains that what artwork symbolizes is only considered extrinsic properties of that work and we are told in the argument that "extrinsic properties are irrelevant to our aesthetic interactions with art.

Thus, our conclusion is strengthened because what a painting symbolizes is not aesthetically relevant due to it only involving extrinsic properties.

Does answer choice (A) guarantee the conclusion? Yes.

We can connect the contrapositive of P2 to (A) like so: AR ==> not EP ==> not S to conclude--through the transitive property--that AR ==> not S, which is our conclusion. Hence, answer choice (A) guarantees the conclusion.

Hope that helps! Please let us know if you have any other questions.

jing jing on May 19, 2020

Why is D in correct?Thanks

Ashley on June 24 at 04:35AM

i don't understand how the last sentence is the conclusion. i felt that the first was the conclusion. anyway to still get this correct even if we got the main conclusion wrong?

Emil on June 24 at 05:49PM

Hi, I think we can take a look to see if the first sentence supports the final sentence, or if the final sentence supports the first one.

If we were to say that we should only look at the intrinsic properties because what really matters is not the symbolic nature, what the direct experience this might make some sense, but it would make a lot more sense to say that what really matters is the direct experience, because we should only look at the extrinsic properties. This would be quite difficult to get right without having the conclusion down, but not impossible. We know we would need to link the idea of intrinsic properties and the aesthetic relevance, and it's possible to have a question with only one answer linking those concepts.