PrepTest 159, Section 4, Question 13
Passage A In all games, particularly in athletic(484 more words not shown)
Passage A(267 more words not shown)
Passage B(225 more words not shown)
The author of passage A(23 more words not shown)
- AKant's views do(12 more words not shown)
- BKant's views are(13 more words not shown)
- CKant's views presuppose(18 more words not shown)
- DKant's views apply(12 more words not shown)
- EKant's views help(15 more words not shown)
Reading the passage
Put the two relevant claims next to each other. In B, Kant connects beauty with an appearance of purposiveness. In A, the complaint is that many contemporary arts audiences judge by novelty and shock value, even ugliness or banality.
What we’re looking for
That creates a contrast between Kant's account of aesthetic appreciation and the criteria A says many people actually use. We don't need to equate sporting standards with “purpose” or decide that every shocking work is ugly. We need the mismatch between these two described approaches to judging art.
Working the answers
- ACorrect
A says that, for many, novelty and shock have become the surviving measures of excellence. Those measures differ from the appreciation of beauty and apparent purposiveness described in B. A's author would therefore see current artistic judgment as out of step with Kant's views. The answer concerns how audiences actually judge, not what the author thinks their standards ought to be.
- B
Nothing establishes a conflict between purposiveness and ceremony. A's ceremonial description doesn't commit its author to rejecting Kant on that basis.
- C
A makes no sweeping claim that Kant's account is too formal for artists in every historical period. That criticism isn't supplied by either discussion.
- D
This may sound compatible with B's use of Kant to discuss sports. But the question asks for A's author's likely assessment. A gives us a direct contrast with contemporary artistic standards, not a claim that Kant applies equally well across both fields.
- E
Kant's view doesn't explain why artists seek novelty, ugliness, or banality. A presents that experimentation as part of the confusion about standards. B's account of beauty doesn't supply the proposed explanation of those artists' choices.
More Author's Opinion questions
Learn the LSAT our way
Our platform drills Author's Opinion questions at your level and adjusts as you improve.