Self-study
It is popularly believed that a poem has whatever meaning is assigned to it by the reader. ███ █████████ ██████████ ██ ██████ ██ ████████ ████ ██ ████ ███████ ██████ ██ ██████ ███ ███ █████████ █████ ██ █ ████ ██████ ██ █████████ ██████ ██ ██ ████████ ███ ██ █████ ███ ███████ ██ █████ ██ ███ ███████ ██████████████ ██ ███ █████
Summary
There cannot be discussion of a poem’s aesthetic value unless multiple readers agree on the poem’s correct reading. Therefore, we can only have objective evaluation of poetry if readers do not determine a poem’s meaning.
Notable Assumptions
The argument’s support is focused on the conditions necessary for discussion of a poem’s aesthetic value, but the conclusion is about the conditions necessary for the objective evaluation of poetry. There is a missing gap between the two - there is, therefore, a missing assumption that discussion of a poem’s aesthetic value is necessary for objective evaluation of poetry.
24.
Which one of the following ██ ██ ██████████ ████████ ██ ███ █████████
a
Only if they ████ ███ ████ ███████ ██ █ ████ ███ ███ ██████ ████ █████ ████ ██ ███ █████████ ██████
This doesn’t do anything to help the argument get to its conclusion. It doesn’t provide any information about a poem’s objective value, and the possibility of two people judging whether a poem has aesthetic value isn’t relevant.
b
If two readers █████ █████ ███ ███████ ██ █ █████ █████ ████ ███████ ████ ██ █████████ ██████████ ██ ███ ████ ███ ██ █████
This is too strong. The argument only needs to demonstrate that agreeing about meaning allows for the possibility of objective evaluation, not that it guarantees objective evaluation.
c
Discussion of a ████ ██ ████████ ████ ██ ██ ██ █████ ████ █ ████ ███ ████████ ███████ ██ ████████ ██ ██ ██ ███ ███████
This is too strong. The argument is focused specifically on the discussion of a poem’s aesthetic value, not on the conditions required for any general discussion of a poem to be possible.
d
A given poem ███ ██ ███████████ █████████ ████ ██ ███ ██████ █████████ █████ ███ ██ ██████████
This fills the gap in the argument, and explains the connection between the premises and conclusion. If it were negated, and a poem could be objectively evaluated even without having its aesthetic value discussed, the premises do not provide any support for the conclusion.
e
Aesthetic evaluation of ██████████ ██ ████ ████████████ ███████ ██████████ ██ ████ ████ ███ ████████
The argument doesn’t need to make any complains about the best way of evaluating literature - it is focused only on specifically whether poems can be objectively evaluated.