Logical Reasoning

PT129 · S2 · Q24 Sometimes one reads a poem

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Sometimes one reads a poem and believes that the poem expresses contradictory ideas, even if it is a great poem.

Evidence

No one who is writing a great GP → ~ICI poem intends it to communicate contradictory ideas.

Sometimes one reads a poem GP + BCI and believes that the poem expresses contradictory ideas, even if it is a great poem.

Conclusion

So it is wrong to think that the meaning of a poem is whatever he author intends to communicate to the reader by means of the poem.

Evaluate

The argument assumes that if BCI → CI the reader believes that a poem expresses contradictory ideas then contradictory ideas are part of the meaning of a poem.

24.

Which one of the following is an assumption on which the argument depends?

  1. Different readers will usually disagree

    Irrelevant Comparison

    The difference need not be between what different readers believe an author intends to communicate, but rather between what authors intend to express and what is expressed.

    8% picked this

  2. If someone writes a great

    Supports a Premise

    This supports a premise of the argument.

    20% picked this

  3. Readers will not agree about

    Wrong Outcome

    Whether readers will agree about the meaning of a poem is not relevant.

    11% picked this

  4. Anyone reading a great poem

    Weaken

    This makes it less likely that there is a mismatch between the author’s view and that of the reader. Without that mismatch it would not be wrong to think that the meaning of a poem is whatever the author intends to communicate.

    8% picked this

  5. Correct

    If a reader believes that

    Why this is right

    This bridges the gap between a BCI → CI reader believing that a poem expresses contradictory ideas and the poem actually expressing contradictory ideas.

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

    53% picked this

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