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The purpose of a general theory of art is to explain every

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The purpose of a general theory of art is to explain every

by Uva@90 » Sun Jun 14, 2015 8:16 am
Hi All,

The purpose of a general theory of art is to explain every aesthetic feature
that is found in any of the arts. Pre-modern general theories of art, however,
focused primarily on painting and sculpture. Every pre-modern general theory
of art, even those that succeed as theories of painting or sculpture, fails to
explain some aesthetic feature of music.

The statements above, if true, most strongly support which one of following?

(A) Any general theory of art that explains the aesthetic features of
painting also explains those of sculpture.
(B) A general theory of art that explains every aesthetic feature of music
will achieve its purpose.
(C) Any theory of art that focus primarily on sculpture or painting cannot
explain every aesthetic feature of music.
(D) No pre-modern general theory of art achieves its purpose unless music
is not art.
(E) No pre-modern general theory of art explains any aesthetic feature of
music that is not shared with painting and sculpture.

OA D

Regards,
Uva.
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by Uva@90 » Sun Jun 14, 2015 9:12 am
Can some one explain/elaborate option D ??

"No pre-modern general theory of art achieves its purpose unless music is not art "

does it mean - if music is not an art then no pre-modern general theory of art achieves its purpose - ??

I get confused when I see NO in starting of the sentence.. :(

Thank you in advance.
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Uva.
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by DavidG@VeritasPrep » Sun Jun 14, 2015 9:37 am
The purpose of a general theory of art is to explain every aesthetic feature
that is found in any of the arts. Pre-modern general theories of art, however,
focused primarily on painting and sculpture. Every pre-modern general theory
of art, even those that succeed as theories of painting or sculpture, fails to
explain some aesthetic feature of music.

The statements above, if true, most strongly support which one of following?
Consider the two main premises here:

1) The purpose of a general theory of art is to explain EVERY aesthetic feature in ANY of the arts. (Consider what an insanely high standard this is!)
2) EVERY pre-modern theory of art fails to explain SOME aesthetic feature of music

Well, if music is an art, and EVERY pre-modern theory fails to explain SOME aesthetic feature of music, then these theories fail to achieve their purpose because the purpose is to explain EVERY aesthetic feature of ANY of the arts.

(But if music is not an art, then the fact that pre-modern theories all fail to explain some aesthetic feature of music is no longer important.)

Often, CR books will instruct readers to be wary of extreme language in the answer choices, but in this case, the extreme premises of the initial argument warrant an extreme answer.
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by MartyMurray » Sun Jun 14, 2015 4:49 pm
Uva@90 wrote:Can some one explain/elaborate option D ??

"No pre-modern general theory of art achieves its purpose unless music is not art "

does it mean - if music is not an art then no pre-modern general theory of art achieves its purpose - ??
So the answer to your exact question is that the sentence means that since in order for a general theory of art to achieve its purpose it has to explain every aesthetic feature found in any of the arts, given that no pre-modern general theory explains every aesthetic feature of music, then the only way any of the pre-modern theories could be considered to have achieved its purpose is if music is not considered art. Otherwise, no pre-modern general theory achieves its purpose.

Just to get you used to the concept here are some more sentences that start with no and nobody.

No car that I know of can go faster than twice the speed of sound.

No dog, big or small, can play in the park without supervision.

Nobody who keeps at things will not see results eventually.
Marty Murray
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MartyMurrayCoaching.com
Contact me at [email protected] for a free consultation.
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