PrepTest 153, Section 2, Question 16
Art may make the world more beautiful, but(45 more words not shown)
The reasoning in the argument(11 more words not shown)
- Atakes for granted(14 more words not shown)
- Btakes for granted(16 more words not shown)
- Coverlooks the possibility(13 more words not shown)
- Doverlooks the possibility(7 more words not shown)
- Etreats a criterion(29 more words not shown)
Reading the argument
Is the problem that artists won't earn much? No. The argument complains about how their pay is decided.
That problem might follow you into another career. Imagine an excellent lawyer whom potential clients have never heard of. That lawyer could struggle to attract work. An average lawyer with effective marketing might attract plenty of clients because people think highly of the lawyer's ability. In this hypothetical, pay outside art still depends partly on other people's perceptions.
We do not have to prove that every profession works exactly like that. The author recommends another profession as though doing so will escape the objection. But where is the evidence that those other careers avoid subjective evaluations? Even if art is especially vulnerable to them, the argument has not established a better alternative.
What we’re looking for
For the flaw, I'd look for that unexamined comparison: we have identified a problem with art without checking whether the recommended alternatives share it.
Working the answers
- A
The amount of pay is different from the basis on which pay is determined. The author could object to a highly paid artist's compensation if subjective judgments determined it. Nothing says to choose whichever career pays the most, or to ignore every other consideration about a career.
- B
Subjective evaluations can differ. One person might love a painting while another dislikes it, and those opinions could affect what people are willing to pay. The argument does not require everyone to agree that a work is beautiful or everyone to agree that it is not.
- CCorrect
If some subjective evaluation enters into pay in any profession, leaving art would not get rid of the feature the author calls unacceptable. The lawyer example shows how that possibility could arise outside art.
The author needs to do more than identify a drawback and point elsewhere. We need a reason to think the other option avoids the drawback, or at least some comparison that justifies preferring it. The argument supplies neither.
- D
An artist could be paid extremely well through the very subjective process the author objects to. That would not answer the objection. The passage does not deny that well-paid artists exist; its complaint concerns how their pay is set, not simply whether it is high or low.
- E
This describes a different argument: “A good career must avoid subjective pay. This career avoids subjective pay. Therefore, it is a good career.” That would treat meeting one requirement as enough to make the whole career good, ignoring possible problems such as unwanted hours or working conditions.
Our author instead uses the alleged problem to rule out art and recommends going elsewhere. The missing comparison with those other professions is the flaw. The author does not establish that a particular alternative meets the requirement and then declare that sufficient to make it a good career.
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