We ought to pay attention only

Answer choices

1. A

   Correct47% picked this

   What an artwork symbolizes involves only extrinsic properties of

   Why this is right

   Since "what an artwork symbolizes" involves only extrinsic properties of the work, and since extrinsic properties are irrelevant to our aesthetic interactions with it, we would know that what an artwork symbolizes is irrelevant to our aesthetic interactions with it. So, the first half of the conclusion is fully proved. The second half was already established because the second sentence already told us that we should consider only what is directly presented in our experience of it.

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

   47%
2. B

   Unclear Impact4% picked this

   There are certain properties of our experiences of artworks that can be distinguished

   Until we learn whether symbolic stuff is intrinsic or extrinsic, we won't know whether it's "aesthetically relevant" or not, according to the author's definition where only intrinsic is relevant. When we look at a painting, we directly experience its colors, shapes, shading, and the image it depicts (if it's representational art). What a painting symbolizes involves internal mental activity -- "Klaus is painting this toaster because in 1970s East Germany, a toaster was hard to come by and so it's a symbol of wealth and prosperity". The open question of this argument is whether we consider those thoughts, which are certain properties of our experience of viewing Klaus's Toaster at Sunset, to be intrinsic stuff directly presented or extrinsic stuff.

   4%
3. C

   Nothing New Unrelated to Goal43% picked this

   Only an artwork’s intrinsic properties are relevant to our aesthetic interactions

   This isn't adding anything to the existing argument, because the author had already established this. By saying we ought to pay attention only to the intrinsic properties, the author is saying only the intrinsic properties are relevant. Furthermore, this answer couldn't possibly "close the loop" and give us an airtight argument because we still have this New Term "what a painting symbolizes" in the conclusion, and the argument hasn't provided any evidence that tells us how to think about "what a painting symbolizes".

   43%
4. D

   Too Weak1% picked this

   It is possible in theory for an artwork to

   "It is possible in theory" does not resemble anything like the 100% guarantee we want out of a Sufficient Assumption answer choice. We also don't care whether all paintings symbolize something, most of them do, none of them do. We only care about proving the claim that "IF the painting symbolizes something, it's aesthetically irrelevant".

   1%
5. E

   Nothing New Unrelated to Goal5% picked this

   An intrinsic property of an artwork is one that relates the

   We already have a solid sense of intrinsic properties: they are what we ought to pay attention to they are what is directly presented in our experience We're lacking a sense of how to classify "what a painting symbolizes", and this answer isn't helping us with that at all.

   5%