Self-paced
Monica: The sculpture commissioned for our town plaza has been scorned by the public ever since it went up. ███ █████ ███ ██████ ██ ███ ████ ██ ███ ████ ████ ████ █████ ████████████ ████ ███ ████████████ ██ ███ ████ ████ ███████ █████ ███ ████████ █████ ███ ████ █████ ██ ██████ ███ ████████ ███
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Monica's Argument
Monica concludes that public dislike of a recent sculpture isn't a good reason to remove the sculpture. In support, Monica explains that the public isn't knowledgeable about contemporary art. This means that their dislike of the sculpture doesn't relate to its artistic merit.
In order for her premises to support her conclusion, Monica has to assume that the artistic merit of the sculpture is an important consideration in whether to remove the statue.
Hector's Argument
Hector concludes that if Monica is correct that the public dislike the sculpture, then the sculpture should be removed. Why? Because public art should benefit the public, and public opinion is the only way to tell what the public feels is beneficial.
Hector's premises only address what the public feels is beneficial, however. To support his conclusion, based on what actually benefits the public, Hector needs to assume that the public can correctly assess what is to their benefit.
25.
The argument Hector makes in ██████████ ██ ██████ ███████ ██ ███ ██████████ ████
a
no matter what ███ ████████ ███████ ██ ██ ██ █████ █████████ ███ ██████ █████ ████ ██████ ███████ █████ ██ ██ █████ ███ ████ ██████ ███ ███████ ███ ███ ██ █ █████████████ ███
Hector’s argument is based on the idea that the public benefit should be pursued, and relies on equating what the public thinks is beneficial to what is truly beneficial. That’s possible even without following public opinion no matter what—this assumption is unnecessary.
b
Monica's assessment of ███ ████████ ███████ ██ ███ █████████ ██ ████████
Hector’s conclusion is phrased as a conditional, so it doesn’t depend on whether Monica’s assessment is accurate. It just wouldn’t be triggered if Monica’s assessment is inaccurate.
c
if the sculpture ███ ████████ ██████ ████ ████ █ ██████ ████ ███ ███ █████████████ █████ ██████ ███ █████ ███ █████ ███ █████████
Hector isn’t concerned with the sculpture’s artistic merit, just whether it benefits the public. That makes this, like (D), both unnecessary and irrelevant.
d
works of art ████████████ ███ ██████ ██████ █████ ███ ██ ██ ████████ ██ ████ ████████ █████
Like (C), this is simply irrelevant, because Hector’s argument doesn’t involve whether or not the sculpture has artistic merit.
e
if the public █████ ████ ██ ████ ███ ███████ ████ ███ ██████████ ████ █████ ████ ███ ██████ ████ ███ ██ ████ ███████ ████ ███ █████████
Hector infers that the public scorning the sculpture would mean the sculpture was not beneficial, on the basis that the public would not feel the sculpture was beneficial. This requires assuming that public feelings about the sculpture’s benefit actually indicate that benefit.