Self-study
Support We ought to pay attention only to the intrinsic properties of a work of art. ███ ██████ █████████ ██████████ ███ ██████████ ██ ███ █████████ ████████████ ████ ███ ███ ████████ ████ ██ ████ ██ █ ████████ ██ ██████ ████████ ████ ████ ██ ████████ █████████ ██ ███ ██████████ ██ ███ ████ ██ ██████ █████████████ █████████ ██████████ ██ ███ ████ █ ████████ ███████████ ███ ████ ██ ████████ ████████ ██ ███████████
Summary
The author concludes that what a painting symbolizes is NOT aesthetically relevant. Rather, it is what the painting directly presents to experience.
Why does the author believe this?
Because the extrinsic properties of an artwork are aesthetically irrelevant. In addition, we should consider only what is directly presented in our experience of an artwork.
Missing Connection
Notice that “what a painting symbolizes” is a new concept in the conclusion — it’s not mentioned or logically covered by any of the premises. So, at a minimum, we should look for an answer that involves what a painting symbolizes.
To go further, we can anticipate a more specific connection between the premise and conclusion. A premise tells us that extrinsic properties of an art are aesthetically irrelevant. So if we want to conclude that what a painting symbolizes is aesthetically irrelevant, we want to establish that what a painting symbolizes is an extrinsic property of art. (If a premise says extrinsic → irrelevant, and we want to conclude symbol → irrelevant, then we want to establish symbol → extrinsic.)
24.
The conclusion follows logically if █████ ███ ██ ███ █████████ ██ █████ ██ ███ █████████
a
What an artwork ██████████ ████████ ████ █████████ ██████████ ██ ████ █████
(A) establishes that what a painting symbolizes must involve only extrinsic properties. Since we know from a premise that extrinsic properties are aesthetically irrelevant, (A) establishes that what a painting symbolizes is aesthetically irrelevant.
b
There are certain ██████████ ██ ███ ███████████ ██ ████████ ████ ███ ██ █████████████ ██ ████████ ███████████
(B) establishes that there are some experiences that are symbolic properties. But it doesn’t tell us anything about those symbolic properties. Is what a painting symbolizes extrinsic or intrinsic? (B) doesn’t tell us.
c
Only an artwork's █████████ ██████████ ███ ████████ ██ ███ █████████ ████████████ ████ ███
(C) doesn’t establish anything about “what a painting symbolizes.” Since neither this answer nor the premises tell us anything about what a painting symbolizes, it can’t make the argument valid. (You might be thinking that (C) must be true based on the premises, but this isn’t a MBT question, so it’s still not correct.)
d
It is possible ██ ██████ ███ ██ ███████ ██ █████████ ████████
(D) doesn’t establish anything about “what a painting symbolizes.” Since neither this answer nor the premises tell us anything about what a painting symbolizes, it can’t make the argument valid.
e
An intrinsic property ██ ██ ███████ ██ ███ ████ ███████ ███ ████ ██ ███████
(E) doesn’t establish anything about “what a painting symbolizes.” Since neither this answer nor the premises tell us anything about what a painting symbolizes, it can’t make the argument valid.