LSAT 103 – Section 2 – Question 24

LSAT 103 - Section 2 - Question 24

September 1998

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Question
QuickView		 Type Tags Answer
Choices		 Curve Question
Difficulty		 Psg/Game/S
Difficulty		 Explanation
PT103 S2 Q24
+LR
Point at issue: disagree +Disagr
Conditional Reasoning +CondR
A
8%
163
B
6%
164
C
25%
164
D
5%
162
E
57%
169
154
165
175
 +Hardest 149.468 +SubsectionMedium

Monica: The sculpture commissioned for our town plaza has been scorned by the public ever since it went up. But since the people in our town do not know very much about contemporary art, the unpopularity of the work says nothing about its artistic merit and thus gives no reason for removing it.

Hector: You may be right about what the sculpture’s popularity means about its artistic merit. However, a work of art that was commissioned for a public space ought to benefit the public, and popular opinion is ultimately the only way of determining what the public feels is to its benefit. Thus, if public opinion of this sculpture is what you say, then it certainly ought to be removed.

Speaker 1 Summary

Monica believes that the sculpture’s lack of popularity isn’t a good reason to remove the sculpture. Why not? Because the public is ignorant about contemporary art, and so lack of popularity tells us nothing about its artistic merit. For Monica, any reason to remove the sculpture must be related to its artistic merit.

Speaker 2 Summary

Hector disagrees; he says that if people don’t like the sculpture, then it should be removed. Why? Because the sculpture should benefit the public, and popular opinion is the only way to know whether people think the sculpture benefits them.

Objective

We need a principle that Monica and Hector disagree on. They disagree about the rationale for removing a sculpture. Monica thinks it’s necessary to consider artistic merit. Hector thinks artistic merit doesn’t matter if the public believes the sculpture is of no benefit.

A
Public opinion of a work of art is an important consideration in determining the work’s artistic merit.

Monica’s opinion is unclear. She disregards public opinion in this case because the townspeople are ignorant about contemporary art, but she doesn’t suggest that public opinion never matters. Meanwhile, Hector says she may be right, so he doesn’t disagree with her.

B
Works of art commissioned for public spaces ought at least to have sufficient artistic merit to benefit the public.

Neither has an opinion. Monica never considers public benefit, and Hector doesn’t draw any connection between artistic merit and public benefit.

C
The only reason for removing a work of art commissioned for a public space would be that the balance of public opinion is against the work.

Hector’s opinion is unclear. He believes that this is a sufficient reason for removing a work of art, but he doesn’t suggest that it’s the only reason.

D
The sculpture cannot benefit the public by remaining in the town plaza unless the sculpture has artistic merit.

Neither has an opinion. Monica never considers public benefit, and Hector doesn’t draw any connection between artistic merit and public benefit.

E
In determining whether the sculpture should remain in the town plaza, the artistic merit of the sculpture should be a central consideration.

Monica agrees, Hector disagrees. Monica suggests that artistic merit is key—if there’s not an issue with the sculpture’s merit, there’s no reason to remove it. Hector says that poor public opinion is enough reason to remove the statue, regardless of artistic merit.

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LSAT PrepTest 103 Explanations

Section 1 - Logical Reasoning

Section 2 - Logical Reasoning

Section 3 - Logical Reasoning

Section 4 - Reading Comprehension

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