Self-study
The purpose of a general theory of art is to explain every aesthetic feature that is found in any of the arts. █████████ ███████ ████████ ██ ████ ████████ ███████ █████████ ██ ████████ ███ ██████████ █████ █████████ ███████ ██████ ██ ████ ████ █████ ████ ███████ ██ ████████ ██ ████████ ███ ██████████ █████ ██ ███████ ████ █████████ ███████ ██ ██████
Summary
The purpose of a general theory of art is to explain every aesthetic feature found in any form of art. Every premodern general theory of art fails to explain some aesthetic feature of music. Premodern general theories of art focus primarily on painting and sculpture.
Strongly Supported Conclusions
If music is art, then no premodern general theory of art achieves its purpose.
17.
The statements above, if true, ████ ████████ ███████ █████ ███ ██ ███ ██████████
a
Any general theory ██ ███ ████ ████████ ███ █████████ ████████ ██ ████████ ████ ████████ █████ ██ ██████████
This answer is unsupported. We know from the stimulus that premodern general theories of art primarily focus on painting and sculpture, but we don’t know if the same is true for any general theory of art.
b
A general theory ██ ███ ████ ████████ █████ █████████ ███████ ██ █████ ████ ███████ ███ ████████
This answer is unsupported. The necessary condition for a general theory of art to achieve its purpose is for the theory to explain every aesthetic feature found in any art form. Only explaining every aesthetic feature of music is too narrow.
c
Any theory of ███ ████ ███████ █████████ ██ █████████ ███ ████████ ██████ ███████ █████ █████████ ███████ ██ ██████
This answer is unsupported. The stimulus is limited to general theories of art and premodern general theories of art. “Any theory of art” is too strong.
d
No premodern general ██████ ██ ███ ████████ ███ ███████ ██████ █████ ██ ███ ████
e
No premodern general ██████ ██ ███ ████████ ███ █████████ ████████ ██ █████ ████ ███ ███ ██████ ████ ████████ ███ ██████████
This answer is unsupported. We don’t know from the stimulus if there are any aesthetic features that music, painting, and sculpture do not share.