Critical Reasoning

The Sumpton town council recently voted to pay a prominent artist to create an abstract sculpture for the town square. Critics of this decision protested that town residents tend to dislike most abstract art, and any art in the town square should reflect their tastes. But a town council spokesperson dismissed this criticism, pointing out that other public abstract sculptures that the same sculptor has installed in other cities have been extremely popular with those cities' local residents.

The statements above most strongly suggest that the main point of disagreement between the critics and the spokesperson is whether

A.it would have been reasonable to consult town residents on the decision
B.most Sumpton residents will find the new sculpture to their taste
C.abstract sculptures by the same sculptor have truly been popular in other cities
D.a more traditional sculpture in the town square would be popular among local residents
E.public art that the residents of Sumpton would find desirable would probably be found desirable by the residents of other cities

[spoiler]OA: B[/spoiler]

The wrong answers to this question all contain ideas that one could construe as implied by what is said in the prompt, while actually they are not supported by what is said in the prompt.

So, getting the right answer requires noticing what exactly is said and NOT SAID in the prompt.

Notice that for each wrong answer there is a way to very clearly show that it is not supported by the prompt.

(A) Neither is saying anything about consulting the residents.

(B) The critics are saying that residents dislike abstract art. The implication is that they will dislike this piece as well.

The spokesperson pointed out that abstract sculptures by the same sculptor have been popular in other cities. The implication is that this sculpture will be popular, i.e. liked by most people, in Sumpton.

Therefore, their main point of disagreement is whether most Sumpton residents will find the sculpture to their liking, i.e. to their taste.

(C) While this could be construed as something with which the critics might disagree, the truth is that the critics say nothing about the popularity of abstract sculptures in other cities, and so there is no reason to believe that they do in fact disagree with the assertion that those sculptures are popular in those cities.

(D) Notice, while one might be tempted to believe this, the spokesperson is not saying that a more traditional sculpture would not be even more popular than the proposed abstract one, only that the abstract one will be popular.

(E) Neither the critics nor the spokesperson says anything about what the tastes of residents of Sumpton indicate about the tastes of the residents of other cities.

The correct answer is B.

Hi Marty so the assumptions of each are as follow ?:

Critics: Most of the city residents don't like abstract art so they won't like this one.
Council: What is popular for other cities will be popular in this city

Thanks