Self-study
There is little point in looking to artists for insights into political issues. ████ ██ ████ ████ █████████ █████ ████ ███ ████ ██████████ ████ █████ ██ ███ ██████████ █████████████ ██████ ███ ██ ███ ██ ███████ ███████ ████ █████ ██ █ ██████ ███ ██████████ ████ ██ ████████ █████████ █████ ██████████ ██ ██ ██████ ████████ ████ ████████ ██████ ███ █████████ ███████ ███ ██████ █████ █████████
Objective: Identify an Inference
Although the stimulus puts forward an argument, to make an inference we can accept each claim as fact. We aren't concerned with support structures. We just need to be clear on the facts stated:
(1) it's not useful to seek political insight from artists;
(2) most artists are less politically insightful than any well-educated non-artist;
(3) artists' statements overall show that artistic talent and political insight rarely overlap.
It might be tricky to predict an inference at this state, so we can proceed by process of elimination. One easy rule is to eliminate any answer choice that brings in new information. Incorrect answer choices might also go too far beyond what the stimulus supports. The correct answer must be limited to the facts already given in the stimulus.
24.
Which one of the following ███ ██ ████████ ████ ███ ████████
a
There are no ███████ ███ ████ ████████ ████ █████████ ███████
(A) goes too far so can't be inferred from the stimulus. We know artists "rarely" have political insight, but that doesn't mean they never can.
b
A thorough education ██ ███ █████ █ ██████ ██████████ ████ █████████
(B) brings in a new idea: a thorough education in art. The stimulus talks about "artists," but doesn't tell us whether that requires education. The stimulus also doesn't define what it means to be "reasonably well-educated." (B) goes beyond what the stimulus supports.
c
Every reasonably well-educated ██████ ███ ██ ███ ██ ██████ ███ ████ ███████ ████ █████████ ██████ ████ ███ ███████
Like (A), (C) goes too far with the facts in the stimulus. We know that
d
Politicians rarely have ███ ████████ ███████
(D) relies on the new idea of "politicians." The stimulus discusses political insight, but never mentions politicians—so we don't know if they're politically insightful or not. (D) could be correct if we knew that politicians had political insight, but since we don't, (D) cannot be inferred.
e
Some artists are ██ ████ ███████████ ██████████ ████ ████ ██████████ █████████████ ███████ ███ ███ ███ ████████
The stimulus tells us that
The other terms the stimulus uses (little point, rarely) contextualize this "most" and suggest that it excludes "all." (E) isn't a perfect answer, and might not meet the strictest definition of "inference," but it's at least strongly supported. That makes (E) the best of our options.