Self-study
Art theft from museums is on the rise. ████ ██████ ███ ██ ████ ██ ███████ ███████ ███████████ █████████████ █████ ███████ █████ ████ █████ █████████ ███ ████ ██████████ ██ ███████ ███████ █████ ██ █████ ████ ██ █████ ████████ ██ █████ ████ ████████ ███████
Summary
The author concludes that museums ought to focus more of their security on their most valuable pieces. His reasoning is that most stolen art is sold to wealthy buyers.
Notable Assumptions
The author’s conclusion is that the most valuable pieces need extra protection, but his support is that wealthy collectors buy most stolen art. How do we know that the wealthy collectors care more about valuable pieces? The author didn’t give any particular reason to believe this is the case.
Consequently, he must be assuming that wealthy collectors are especially concerned with valuable pieces of art, compared to less valuable ones.
13.
The argument depends on assuming █████ ███ ██ ███ ██████████
a
Art thieves steal ████ ████████ ███ ███████████████ ████
The author’s concern is to increase security for valuable art, so he doesn’t have to assume that thieves do steal not-so-valuable art.
b
Art pieces that ███ ███ ████ ████████ ███ ███ ████ ████ ██ ██████ ██ ███████ ███████ ███████████
Negated, this is: art pieces that are not very valuable are very much in demand by wealthy private collectors. If so, the author gives no reason to believe that security has to be shifted to valuable pieces. The less valuable ones could also be at risk. Consequently, the author must assume (B) is true.
Note that this is narrower than our prediction: it doesn’t directly address the demand for valuable art.
c
Art thieves steal █████████ ████ ███████ ████ ███ ██████ ████████
The author’s conclusion is about where to focus security, not the overall level of security. It could apply to museums that are well secured.
d
Most museums provide ███ ████ ██████ ██ ████████ ███ ████████ ███ ███████████████ ████
This is too extreme to be necessary. The author doesn’t need to assume that both kinds of art receive equal security; only that it’s possible for the more valuable art to be given more security, and the less valuable art less.
e
Wealthy private collectors █████████ ████ █████ ██████ ███ ██ █████ ███████ ███████ ███████████
What wealthy collectors do with stolen art after acquiring it is irrelevant. What’s important to the author’s argument is that they’re driving the demand for stolen art.