Ullman: Plato argued that because of the harmful ways in which music can manipulate the emotions, societies need to put restrictions on the music their citizens hear.
Plato's Evidence
Music can manipulate the emotions in harmful ways.
Plato's Conclusion
Societies need to put restrictions on the music their citizens hear.
Ullman's Evidence
Musicians seek not to manipulate the emotions but to create beauty.
Ullman's Conclusion
Plato's argument is misguided.
Evaluate
The final sentence in the stimulus follows a common form:
Premise Indicator - Premise - Comma - Conclusion
The premise indicator "because" at the beginning of the second sentence is followed by a premise. That premise is followed by a comma, which is followed by the argument's conclusion.
The pivot indicator "however" also helps us to identify the conclusion. A pivot indicator frequently marks the point where some initial claim or idea comes to an end and the actual argument begins. It also indicates that the actual argument is a rebuttal of the initial claim or idea.
In this case, Ullman's argument is a rebuttal of Plato's argument.
Plato's evidence describes something that music is capable of doing—it can manipulate emotions in harmful ways. Notice that Ullman's evidence is about what musicians intend to do: Ullman states that they don't seek to manipulate emotions.
Ullman's argument is flawed because their evidence addresses a completely different issue than Plato's. Plato could easily say,
Goal
We'll expect an answer to focus on the difference between Plato's evidence about what music is actually capable of doing and Ullman's objection, which focuses on musician's intentions. This question stem states that a correct answer should describe a possibility that the argument fails to consider, so the correct answer should be worded as an objection to Ullman's reasoning, something that would harm Ullman's argument. Beware of answers that would support Ullman's argument.