PrepTest 104, Section 4, Question 20
Art historian: Robbins cannot pass judgment on Stuart's(23 more words not shown)
The art historian's argument depends(4 more words not shown)
- Ain order to(17 more words not shown)
- Bif art can(10 more words not shown)
- Cin order to(12 more words not shown)
- DStuart's art can(5 more words not shown)
- Eif Robbins understands(6 more words not shown)
Reading the argument
Can Robbins judge the art without praising it or dismissing it?
The historian has placed her between those two responses. “Too well to dismiss it” means her understanding prevents her from simply rejecting the work. But she doesn't understand it well enough to praise it either. Neither response is available, according to the premises.
Why does that eliminate judgment altogether? Maybe she can offer a mixed assessment, acknowledging something worthwhile without praising the work as a whole or dismissing it. An opinion might fall between those extremes. The historian hasn't explained why that would fail to count as judgment.
What we’re looking for
That's the connection I'd predict for the assumption question: passing judgment requires being able to praise or dismiss. The argument moves from ruling out those particular responses to ruling out judgment, so it needs to treat them as the available ways to judge.
Working the answers
- ACorrect
This supplies the missing requirement: to pass judgment, Robbins must be able to do at least one of the two things, praise or dismiss. The premises rule out both. Since she has neither option, she fails the requirement for passing judgment.
Be careful with “or.” It doesn't say she must do both things. Either ability would meet this particular requirement, but she has neither. Also, understanding the art “too well to dismiss it” doesn't mean she can dismiss it; it tells us why that option is unavailable.
- B
This tells us what should be done with art that can be understood well. The historian's conclusion instead concerns whether Robbins can pass judgment. A recommendation to praise or dismiss doesn't establish that those are the only possible forms of judgment, which is the connection we're missing.
- C
This makes passing judgment a requirement for understanding the art. We need a rule about what Robbins must be able to do in order to pass judgment. C puts judgment on the requirement side of a different relationship and doesn't connect it to her inability to praise or dismiss. It cannot explain why those two unavailable responses prevent judgment.
- D
The premises describe Robbins's limitations, not everyone's. Someone with greater understanding might be able to praise Stuart's work, for example. D's claim about the art itself goes beyond what the historian needs. And even ruling out praise and dismissal more broadly would still leave the question of whether some other kind of judgment is possible.
- E
Understanding art well doesn't necessarily mean praising it. Someone could understand a work and have a critical or mixed view. The historian hasn't committed to this general prediction about Robbins's behavior. More fundamentally, E doesn't explain why the absence of praise and dismissal prevents her from making any judgment at all.
More Necessary Assumption questions
Learn the LSAT our way
Our platform drills Necessary Assumption questions at your level and adjusts as you improve.