Critical Reasoning

Silverman: All music is based on a few main systems of scale building. Clearly, if the popularity of a musical scale were a result of social conditioning, we would expect, given the diversity of social systems, a diverse mixture of diatonic and non-diatonic scales in the world's music. Yet diatonic scales have always dominated the music of most of the world. Therefore, the popularity of diatonic music can be attributed only to innate dispositions of the human mind.

Silverman's argument is most vulnerable to critism on the grounds that it fails to

A. Consider the possibility that some people appreciate non-diatonic music more than they do diatonic music.

B. Explain how innate dispositions increase appreciation of non-diatonic music.

C. Explain the existence of diatonic scales as well as the exisitence of non-diatonic scales.

D. consider that innate dispositions and social conditioning could jointly affect the popularity of a type of music.

E. Consider whether any appreciation of non-diatonic music is demonstrated by some nonhuman spcies of animals.












Why A is wrong? Also, I'm confusing about the terms of "social conditioning" and "social systems". Does "Social systems" relate to the "social conditioning"?

Correct Answer: D