Self-study
According to a theory embraced by some contemporary musicians, music is simply a series of sounds, bereft of meaning. ███ █████ ██████████ ███████ ████ ██████████ ████ █████ ██████ ██ █████████ ██████████████ █████████ ████████ ██████████ ██ █████████ █████ ████████████ ████ ████████████ ██ █████ ███████████ █████ ████ █████ ███ █████ █████ ██ ███████ ██ █████ ███████
Summary
The author concludes that for some contemporary musicians, their music possess meaning. This is supported by the observation that these musicians begin their performances with explanations of their intentions.
Missing Connection
The conclusion asserts that some musicians’ music has “meaning.” But we don’t have any premise that tells us when something has meaning. All we know is that some musicians explain their intentions before performing their music. To make the argument valid, then, we want to establish that the premise leads to the idea that the musicians’ music has meaning:
If musicians explain their intentions before performing music, that music possesses meaning.
Another way to phrase the same relationship:
If music does not possess meaning, then musicians will not explain their intentions before performing it.
20.
Which one of the following, ██ ████████ ███████ ███ ██████████ ██████████ ██ ██ ████████ ██████
a
The human ability ██ █████ ████████████ ███ ██ ██████ ████████ ████ ███████ █████ ██ ████ █████████ ██ ██████ █████ ████ ███ ██ ████████
Showing that it’s difficult to create music with no meaning does not establish that the musicians we’re talking about in the conclusion make music that has meaning. Maybe their music doesn’t have meaning, even though it would be difficult to make that kind of music.
b
It will be ████████ ███ █████████ ██ ██████ █████ ████ █████ ███████ ████ ████ █████████ ███ ████ ██ ██████ ████ █ ██████ ██ ██████
We don’t know whether listeners are able to accept a theory of music that allows for meaningless music. If they are, then it’s possible that musicians create music that means nothing.
c
The fact that █████ ██ ███████████████ ████ █ ██████ ██████ ██ ██████ ████ ████ ██ ███ ███████ █████ █████ ████ ███████ ████ █████████ ██ █████████ ████ █████ ███████ ████████
We want to show that certain musicians’ music has meaning. (C) simply tells us something about which kind of music appeals to audiences more. But it doesn’t tell us that the musicians’ music has meaning.
d
Music that opposes ███████ ███████ ███████████ ██ █████ ██ ████ ██████ ██ ██ ███████ ██ █████████ ████ ██ █████ ████ ███████ ████ ████ ████████████
(D) doesn’t tell us anything about meaning. So it can’t establish that the certain musicians described in the conclusion make music with meaning.
e
Musicians whose music ███ ██ ███████ ██ ███ ███████ █████ ████████████ ████ ████████████ ██ █████ ███████████
We know the musicians referred to in the conclusion explain their intentions before performing their music. According to (E), then, their music must have some meaning. Because if their music did not have meaning, then they would not explain their intentions before performance.