Logical Reasoning

PT150 · S3 · Q4 The reason J. S. Bach is remembered

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The reason J. S. Bach is remembered is not that he had a high ratio of outstanding compositions to mediocre compositions.

Conclusion

Bach is remembered because he was such a prolific (productive) composer, not because he had a high ratio of great songs to mediocre songs.

Intermediate Conclusion (so)

It was inevitable that some of Bach's songs would be outstanding and thus survive the ages.

Evidence

He wrote more than a thousand full-fledged compositions.

Evaluate

The author is essentially trying to Solve a Causal Mystery so we can use your Explain Curious Fact mindset.

Curious Fact ... why is Bach so famous?

Author's Explanation ... He wasn't better than average at making hits (his ratio of great stuff to mediocre stuff is ordinary). But he was super productive. He wrote more than a thousand songs, so obviously some of those will be timeless hits that make it into civilization's permanent playlist.

Goal

Since this is Weaken, we can either suggest an Alternate Explanation for why Bach is famous (maybe he invented a new instrument or a new technique or he had really powerful friends).

Or we can hurt the Plausibility of the Author's Explanation, by making it seem like Bach is not famous just because he wrote a 1000 songs.

4.

Which one of the following, if true, most seriously weakens the argument?

  1. Correct

    Several of Bach's contemporaries who

    Why this is right

    This attacks the plausibility of the author's causal story in a Cause w/o Effect style. For these other composers, they produced more than a thousand compositions as well, and yet they are largely forgotten. (They had the same Supposed Cause -- lots of compositions, but didn't experience the Supposed Effect -- being famous for centuries). Specifically, this answer basically destroys the intermediate conclusion, which was saying that if you have 1000+ compositions, "then it's inevitable that some of them would be outstanding and survive the ages". It's clearly not inevitable, since other people who wrote 1000+ songs did not have outstanding songs that survived the ages.

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

    81% picked this

  2. There are a few highly

    No Impact

    This answer doesn't seem to impact anything regarding the Bach situation. He obviously did not write a small number of compositions, but that doesn't hurt the author's argument. She wasn't saying that all famous composers wrote tons of compositions. In fact she's allowing for the idea that some famous composers might have had a high ratio of outstanding to mediocre compositions (like this answer describes), just not Bach.

    4% picked this

  3. Bach wrote many compositions that

    Strengthens, if anything

    This fits the story the author is telling. Bach was not some crazy lucky composer who wrote hit after hit. It was more like he just stayed busy, wrote 1000 songs, and so at least a handful of them are absolute gems (while the other 900 will be forgotten, mediocre compositions).

    8% picked this

  4. The exact number of Bach's

    No Impact

    Given that we know that Bach wrote more than a thousand songs, the exact number isn't going to matter to us. The fact that the exact number isn't known makes no difference.

    4% picked this

  5. Some great creative geniuses are

    No Impact

    The author's remarks indicate that she's aware that some people are potentially famous because of a high ratio of great to mediocre, just not Bach.

    3% picked this

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