PT27.S4.Q15 - it is often said that beauty is subjective.

notwilliamwallace

Hey All,

Can anyone help me with this question (PT27 S4 Q15). This one is confusing and bothering me at the same time.
https://7sage.com/lsat_explanations/lsat-27-section-4-question-15

The passage says "It is often said that beauty is subjective. But this judgement has to be false..." From what I understand, the author is saying that beauty isn't subjective (meaning, your opinion will be different from my opinion about what we consider to be beautiful). We are asked to weaken this argument where the correct answer is "C" (Our own standard of beauty was strongly influenced by our exposure to works that were considered beautiful in other cultures").

Doesn't that actually strengthen the argument rather than weaken it? If my standard of beautiful art was shaped by what my art teacher thinks is beautiful art, then that means that I am just following her opinion and have no say of my own (therefore, my opinion is not subjective at all), which actually strengthens the argument.

I know I am missing something but am totally confused as to what it is. Any help would be appreciated

Cant Get Right

Basically, answer choice C is suggesting the author is reversing a cause/effect relationship. So the author says that because we consider art from earlier cultures beautiful from our contemporary standard, beauty must be objective. C says not so fast: Actually, the reason we consider that earlier art beautiful is because that art itself has been a fundamental building block in our contemporary perception of beauty.

So take Bach for example. We still consider his work beautiful. Is that because 1) Bach is inherently and objectively beautiful, or because 2) Bach’s influence on contemporary music is so fundamental that Music Theory might as well be renamed “All That Shit Bach Was Doing.” I guess you might could still argue for option 1, but by introducing a strong alternative, answer choice C weakens the argument.

Micaela_OVO

Hello @notwilliamwallace! I'll take a stab at it.

The author makes the case that since earlier cultures had a super duper similar standard of beauty as we do today, beauty can’t be subjective. The author seems to assume that the earlier culture didn’t have any influence whatsoever on the present culture. How silly.

(C) Points out this assumption. If our standards of beauty were in fact influenced by the earlier culture, beauty can be subjective. If beauty wasn’t subjective, an earlier culture’s interpretation of beauty would not have an effect on the present culture’s interpretation.

(A) This somewhat strengthens. If few contemporary artists have had exposure to earlier art, this could suggest objectivity.
(B) Whether art is important isn’t an issue in this argument.
(D) Once again, whether an artwork is important isn’t an issue.
(E) I guess this answer tries to make one assume that if art is owned by a small elite, it has to be objective? Silly. Who owns the art tells us nothing about its subjectivity.

Hope that helps!

notwilliamwallace

Hi @"Cant Get Right" and @Micaela_OVO ... thanks a lot for your replies. It makes a lot more sense now. Hope you guys have a great weekend!!