Self-study
The crux of creativity resides in the ability to manufacture variations on a theme. ██ ██ ████ ██ ███ ███████ ██ ████████ ███ █████████ ██ ███ ████ █████ ████ ██ █████ ████ █ ████████ ███████ ██████ ███████ ████████ █████ ██ ██ ██████████ ████ ████ ██ ██████ ██ ████ █ ███ █████ ██ █ ███ █████████ ██ ██████ ██████ ███ ███████ █████████ ████ ████ ██ ██████████ ██ █ ████ ██████ ██ ████████ ███████
Summary
Creativity requires one to make changes to an existing theme. Every new idea/theme/discovery is built on existing themes.
The stimulus can be diagrammed as follows:
Notable Valid Inferences
This is a MBT Except question. This means all the wrong answers can be logically inferred from the stimulus. The right answer cannot be logically inferred from the stimulus.
Some examples of valid logical inferences from the stimulus are: there are no new themes which are not built on existing themes, and if one lacks the ability to modify a theme, they lack creativity.
7.
If all of the statements ██ ███ ███████ ███ █████ ████ ██ ███ █████████ ████ ████ ██ ████ ███████
a
A lack of ███████ ██ ███████████ █ █████████ ██ █ ████████ █████ ████████ █ ████ ██ ███████████
This must be true. We know the ability to manufacture variations on a theme is required for creativity. A lack of the latter implies a lack of the former. We can see this by taking the contrapositive of the first conditional statement.
b
No scientific idea ██ ████████ ███████████ ██ ███ █████ ██████
This must be true. The stimulus tells us that every idea in science “is built upon a thousand related ideas.” Therefore, no idea can be entirely independent of all others.
c
Careful analysis of █ ████████ █████████ ███ ██████ ████████ ██████ ██ █████ ██ ██ █ ██████████
This must be true. The stimulus says that by carefully analyzing a new theme, we can see the previous themes from which it is derived. This is also what (C) is saying.
d
All great scientific ███████████ ████ ████ ████ ██ ███████████ █ █████████ ██ █ ██████
This must be true. All great scientific discoverers must have made at least one discovery, and we know all discoveries are variations of existing themes. Therefore, the discoverers must have been able to manufacture at least one variation on an existing theme.
e
Some new scientific ███████████ ██ ███ ██████████ ██ █ ████ ██████ █ █████████ ██ ████████ ███████
This must be false. (E) contradicts the final sentence of the stimulus (which is represented in the second conditional statement): all discoveries are a variation on a previous theme.