Logical Reasoning

PT102 · S4 · Q9 The conclusion drawn depends on

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The Board of Trustees of the Federici Art Museum has decided to sell some works from its collection in order to raise the funds necessary to refurbish its galleries.

Conclusion (Hence)

The board's action [selling some works from its collection] will not detract from the quality of the museum's collection.

Evidence

The curator says that among the collection are several unsuccessful immature works by Renoir and Cezanne that should be sold because they're of inferior quality and so add nothing to the overall quality of the museum's collection.

Evaluate

The key issue we're analyzing is whether or not selling some works from the collection would detract from the quality of the collection.

The curator wants to sell some early works by Renoir / Cezanne that are .

If they truly add nothing to the overall quality of the collection, then it seems logically valid to say getting rid of them doesn't detract from the quality of the collection. So we'd have to fight the argument further upstream.

That "so" from the curator is technically a conclusion that the curator is deriving; we don't necessarily have to go along with that idea. We could try to argue that even though these early works by Renoir / Cezanne are 'unsuccessful', that doesn't mean that they add nothing to the quality of the collection (maybe part of the quality of the collection involves seeing how these eventual masters started off as unsuccessful painters).

Goal

We might see a Linking answer like, .

More likely, we'll see some Defender answer, ruling out a possible objection. If we negate the correct answer, it will weaken the argument, meaning it will help us argue that this action to sell some works from the collection could detract from the quality of the collection.

9.

The conclusion drawn depends on which one of the following assumptions?

  1. Art speculators are unable to

    Too Strong: Unable

    The author seems to be assuming that "there will still be a market" for these crappy Renoir paintings that the curator wants to sell, but she doesn't need to assume that art buyers cannot tell that these are crappy Renoir paintings. Even if they are able to distinguish an inferior painting by Renoir, they might still be willing to pay a good bit of money for it (since he's a famous painter).

    13% picked this

  2. Correct

    All of the paintings that

    Why this is right

    If we negate this, it will be saying, "Some of the paintings that the board will be selling are not part of that group of crappy Renoir / Cezanne paintings". Would that weaken? Sure. That gives us a way to argue that the board's action could detract from the quality of the collection. We could say to the author, "Even though those paintings recommended by the curator add noting to the overall quality of the collection (so selling them wouldn't detract from the quality of the collection), the board would also be planning to sell other works. Those other works might currently add something to the collection, and so selling them might detract from the quality of the collection." It's not the most powerful objection, but it creates a big cloud of doubt. We don't know anything about these other paintings the board would be selling, so we can't any longer have the confidence the author has in her conclusion that we won't be detracting from the collection's quality based on the paintings we sell-off.

    Skill tested: Necessary Assumption · how this choice captures the argument's function is the move to repeat next time.

    74% picked this

  3. All of the paintings by

    Too Strong: All

    Does it really matter if Ms. F bought 100% of these paintings herself? If we negate this answer and say that, "At least one of these was bought by Ms. F's nephew", would that hurt the argument? Of course not. Who bought the paintings has nothing to do with whether selling them will affect the quality of the collection.

    3% picked this

  4. Only an avid collector of

    Too Strong: Only

    The curator is definitely assuming that there will be some market for these early, inferior Cezanne's, but there's no reason she has to have the extreme idea that the only possible buyer is an avid collector. If, in addition to avid collectors, a pawn shop or an art school or a moderately-enthused collector of paintings were interested in buying an early Cezanne, the author's argument wouldn't be hurt at all. In fact, the more possible buyers there are for these early Cezanne's, the better, in terms of the curator's plan and the author's conclusion.

    3% picked this

  5. A great work of art

    Too Strong

    Too Strong: only if Out of Scope: truly appreciated Out of Scope: well-maintained This answer is introducing a lot of distinctions we never talked about. There was no discussion of great art, nor true appreciation, nor the design or condition of galleries. This answer is apparently directed at the first sentence. It seems to be inviting us to think about what the Board of Trustees was assuming, when they decided they should refurbish its galleries. Maybe they were thinking, "This shoddy gallery won't do. Great art can only be appreciated in a well-designed and well-maintained gallery." This is way too strong a belief to attribute to the Board of Trustees. They want to polish up their gallery, but we don't know if they believe this highly restrictive rule about where great art can / can't be truly appreciated. More importantly, this answer has nothing to do with the author's argument.

    8% picked this

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