LSAT 90 - Section 2 - Question 24

This is an SA question.

The argument opens with OPA. “Many people” believe that independent films have more integrity as work than major studio productions because indies are less conventional. Okay, great. That’s OPA.

The author (filmmaker) transitions to her argument with “however.” The premise is that indie filmmakers’ need to make a profit affects their artistic decisions. The conclusion is that indie films do not have absolute artistic integrity.

This looks a lot like a PSA question. The premise can be represented as P and the conclusion as C. We need to build a P→C bridge. If profit affects artistic decisions, then there is no absolute artistic integrity. Or something like that.

Correct Answer Choice (B) says if any of the artistic decisions made in creating something were affected by the need to make profits, then that creation does not have absolute integrity as a work of art. That works as a P→C bridge. As is often the case, the correct answer covers more than what we need. (B) covers any artistic decision, not just the ones involved in filmmaking. But that’s fine.

Answer Choice (A) can be eliminated on its logic alone. You can either notice that the sufficient condition here is “artistic decision unaffected by profit needs” or notice that the necessary condition here is “creation has absolute artistic integrity.” Both are wrong. The sufficient condition is supposed to be P, not /P. The necessary condition is supposed to be C, not /C. This is a recurring type of wrong answer for SA and PSA questions. It’s sufficiency-necessity confusion.

Answer Choice (C) can be eliminated by noticing that it’s a comparative statement. We need a logically tight bridge. (C) says that individual creations tend to have more artistic integrity than group creations. Okay, but the argument isn’t concerned with comparing “individual creations” to “group creations.” Only OPA talks about indie films in comparison to major studio productions. No doubt major studio productions are “group creations.” But don’t assume that indie films are “individual creations.” They probably involve fewer people but they probably still involve more than one person.

Answer Choice (D) precludes something as having an effect on artistic integrity. (D) precludes the “unconventionality” of a creation as having an effect on artistic integrity. Okay, now what? The argument is assuming that profit requirements have an effect on artistic integrity. More specifically, it assumes that the effect is that it taints artistic integrity.

Answer Choice (E) is a conditional constructed with “unless.” Translated to an “if...then...” construction, we get, “If artistic decisions were affected by views about what is conventional, then no artistic integrity.” The problem here is that the premises in the argument do not trigger the sufficient condition. All we know about indie filmmakers is that they need to make a profit, which affects their artistic decisions. It’s a further assumption that the need to make a profit amounts to a “view about what is conventional.” The necessary condition in (E) is more than what’s needed, but that’s not a problem for SA answers. If we could have triggered the sufficient condition here, then we could have drawn the conclusion that a creation has no artistic integrity. That would have necessarily implied that it doesn’t have absolute artistic integrity.