Self-study
Vandenburg: This art museum is not adhering to its purpose. ███ ████████ ████████ ██ ██ ██████ ██ ████ █████████ ██ ████████████ ███ ██ ██ ███ ███ ██ ███████ ████████ ███ ███ ██████████ ██ ████████████ ███ ██ ███ ███████ ████ ███ █████ ████████████
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Objective: Find the Principle
Simpson argues that it’s fine for the art museum to have a disproportionately small contemporary art collection. Why? Because the museum's curators believe that there aren’t very many high-quality contemporary artworks.
Simpson comes to a conclusion about the appropriateness of an art collection’s size, but never states what the correct metric by which to judge the collection actually is. So to justify Simpson's reasoning, we’re looking for a principle to fill in that gap by bridging from Simpson's premise. To do this, the principle should confirm that the collection should reflect the curators’ judgment on the number of high-quality artworks available.
This stimulus doesn't use particularly conditional language, so it might be difficult to predict exactly how the correct answer will be phrased. It could be very specific, something like "if a museum's curators believe that there are few high-quality works of a certain art movement, then the corresponding collection in that museum is justified in being small." More frequently, we'll see something more general—but either way, focus on the effect of the principle: justifying Simpson's conclusion based on the premise given.
5.
Which one of the following ███████████ ██ ██████ ████ █████ ██ ███████ ███ █████████ ██ █████████ ████████ ██ ███████████
a
An art museum ██████ ███████ ████ █████ ████ ███ ████████ ████████ ██ ██ ██ ████ ████████ ████████
Let's apply this to Simpson's argument: if the curators have identified only a few contemporary works that they consider high-quality, then the museum should only have a few contemporary works. This is triggered by Simpson's premise, and bridges to the correct conclusion: that the small size of the contemporary collection is appropriate.
b
An art museum ██████ ███ ███████ ███ █████ ████ ███████ ███ ███████ ███████ ██ ███ ████████ █████████
Simpson doesn't appeal to the founders’ definition of the museum’s purpose, so this principle can't justify Simpson's argument; it doesn't trigger. Simpson also doesn't claim that there are any works the museum should not have collected, meaning (B) would lead to a conclusion that doesn't match Simpson's argument.
c
An art museum's ███████ ████ ███ ██ ██ ███████ █████ █████ ██ █████ ███████
While Simpson does claim that an art museum is unlike an ethnographic one, that isn't a core part of the argument: Simpson's primary claim is that that the contemporary collection is appropriately-sized, because of the curators' beliefs. (C) doesn’t bridge between this premise and conclusion, so doesn't justify the argument.
d
An ethnographic museum's ███████ ██████ ██ ███████ █████████ ██ ███ █████████ ████████
Simpson’s conclusion is about an art museum, not about an ethnographic museum. Simpson even makes an explicit distinction between ethnographic museums and art museums, so a principle only relating to ethnographic museums just isn't relevant to the argument.
e
The intentions of ██ ███ ████████ ████████ ██████ ███ █████████ ████ ██ █████████ ██ ████ ███████
Simpson’s argument is practically the opposite: according to Simpson, the curators’ judgments should determine the size of an art collection. This principle may support a counter-argument, but doesn't justify Simpson's claims.