PrepTest 118, Section 4, Question 8
Ariel: Government art subsidies never benefit art, for(75 more words not shown)
The dialogue most supports the(11 more words not shown)
- Aart's role is(4 more words not shown)
- Ba society's values(5 more words not shown)
- Cartists can express(6 more words not shown)
- Dart subsidies provided(6 more words not shown)
- Eonly governments that(9 more words not shown)
Reading the argument
Never benefit art? Giving artists financial support sounds like it could help them. Ariel needs a reason to rule that out.
The reason concerns what art is supposed to do: challenge society's values. At first I'd ask why government-funded art couldn't still challenge those values. Ariel then supplies the connection: government expresses society's values, and artists cannot challenge the institution they depend on. That explains Ariel's position, even if we question those claims.
There's still room to ask whether fulfilling that role is the only way art could benefit. Financial support could help artists keep working even if their work didn't challenge the government. But let's separate our objections from the response Sasha actually makes.
Sasha agrees about art's role. The disagreement concerns what government support permits. A democratic government, Sasha says, respects dissent. It can support artists and still let them criticize its values. The funding therefore helps artists commit to their work while expressing themselves freely.
What we’re looking for
For the disagreement question, we need a claim Ariel rejects and Sasha accepts. Focus on subsidies from a democratic government: Ariel's “never” rules out a benefit there too, while Sasha describes how those subsidies benefit art.
Working the answers
- A
Both speakers accept this role for art. Sasha explicitly says so. Agreement about what art should do helps us locate the dispute: they disagree about whether government support can help art do it.
- B
Ariel makes this claim, but Sasha doesn't deny it. Sasha's response is that democratic governments encourage challenges to their values. That's different from saying that government fails to express society's values. We shouldn't substitute an objection we might make for the one Sasha makes.
- C
Sasha discusses democratic societies. We don't get Sasha's position on artists' freedom in a nondemocratic society. Ariel's argument also concerns dependence on government funding, not everything any artist can express under every kind of government. The required opposing positions aren't supplied.
- DCorrect
Ariel says government subsidies never benefit art, which includes subsidies from democratic governments. Sasha says that in a democratic society the subsidies let artists fully commit to their work while remaining free to express themselves. That is a benefit, so the speakers take opposing positions on D.
- E
Neither speaker addresses fair distribution of the money. We aren't told whether subsidies go to artists based on merit, need, or some other criterion. The dispute concerns whether the support benefits art, not whether only certain governments distribute it fairly.
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