PrepTest 73, Logical Reasoning 2, Question 7
Transcript
Question seven, when a question asks you for a principle, that the reasoning conforms to, you're doing a principle identify question. Your job on these is to match the reasoning in the original to something, some sort of generic abstract rule that's presented in the answer choices. This particular question asks us to draw the principle from an argument. So we should break the argument down, they won't all do this.
Sometimes it's just a bunch of facts but here there's an argument. So we're gonna treat it like an argument. The argument's conclusion is in the middle, it cannot fulfill the purpose of a civic building. Of course, we have to glance a little ways away to figure out what the it is, the it is the city's concert hall.
So the city's concert hall cannot fulfill the purpose of a civic building and why not? Well, there's lots of information to explain why not. First, they tell us some stuff about the concert hall. It's located on a spectacular hilltop site. And this is good in some ways, because the image of a city on a hill associates elevated locations with elevated purposes.
But, because, an evidence keyword, the concert hall is far from the city center. So that's a reason it can't fulfill the purpose of a civic building. It's far from the center of the city, even though it's up on high. And then we get this example of a successful building, the art museum, which is right in a densely populated downtown area. And we're told an additional fact about that museum.
It encourages social cohesion and makes the city more alive. So what we have is a whole bunch of characteristics, characteristics of the concert hall and characteristics of the art museum. They're saying that the concert hall can't fulfill the purpose of a civic building, whereas the art museum does. So there's an assumption underneath this argument and that assumption is probably what's gonna show up as the principle.
The assumption being that, to fulfill the purpose of a civic building, the building needs to be more like the art museum than it is like the concert hall. They gave us lots of characteristics of each and then they concluded that the concert hall can't be a civic building. So they must like the things about the art museum more. And that's what we're gonna be looking for when we go to the answers.
So answer choice A, a civic building is located in a downtown area should, if possible, be located on an elevated site. This won't work because that's the concert hall. We want something that's more like the art museum. Answer choice B, a city needs to have civic buildings if it's to have social cohesion.
Well, this is about what a city needs, so it's not the principle that's being used in the argument. Answer choice C, a civic building with an elevated purpose should be located on a spectacular site. This is wrong because it's again like the concert hall, but this argument wants it to be like the art museum, not the concert hall.
So C is not our answer, D, the downtown area of a city should be designed in a way that complements the area's civic buildings? No, this is a rule about what your downtown area should be like, not a rule about what your civic buildings should be like. So it's not relevant to the argument that we have here, which means that the answer must be E by default.
The purpose of a civic building is to encourage social cohesion and to make a city more alive. Well, yeah, those are two things they told us about the art museum. So in order to be a good civic building, be like the art museum, not like the concert hall. That's the principle that underlies this argument and it is our correct answer.
Read full transcriptSometimes it's just a bunch of facts but here there's an argument. So we're gonna treat it like an argument. The argument's conclusion is in the middle, it cannot fulfill the purpose of a civic building. Of course, we have to glance a little ways away to figure out what the it is, the it is the city's concert hall.
So the city's concert hall cannot fulfill the purpose of a civic building and why not? Well, there's lots of information to explain why not. First, they tell us some stuff about the concert hall. It's located on a spectacular hilltop site. And this is good in some ways, because the image of a city on a hill associates elevated locations with elevated purposes.
But, because, an evidence keyword, the concert hall is far from the city center. So that's a reason it can't fulfill the purpose of a civic building. It's far from the center of the city, even though it's up on high. And then we get this example of a successful building, the art museum, which is right in a densely populated downtown area. And we're told an additional fact about that museum.
It encourages social cohesion and makes the city more alive. So what we have is a whole bunch of characteristics, characteristics of the concert hall and characteristics of the art museum. They're saying that the concert hall can't fulfill the purpose of a civic building, whereas the art museum does. So there's an assumption underneath this argument and that assumption is probably what's gonna show up as the principle.
The assumption being that, to fulfill the purpose of a civic building, the building needs to be more like the art museum than it is like the concert hall. They gave us lots of characteristics of each and then they concluded that the concert hall can't be a civic building. So they must like the things about the art museum more. And that's what we're gonna be looking for when we go to the answers.
So answer choice A, a civic building is located in a downtown area should, if possible, be located on an elevated site. This won't work because that's the concert hall. We want something that's more like the art museum. Answer choice B, a city needs to have civic buildings if it's to have social cohesion.
Well, this is about what a city needs, so it's not the principle that's being used in the argument. Answer choice C, a civic building with an elevated purpose should be located on a spectacular site. This is wrong because it's again like the concert hall, but this argument wants it to be like the art museum, not the concert hall.
So C is not our answer, D, the downtown area of a city should be designed in a way that complements the area's civic buildings? No, this is a rule about what your downtown area should be like, not a rule about what your civic buildings should be like. So it's not relevant to the argument that we have here, which means that the answer must be E by default.
The purpose of a civic building is to encourage social cohesion and to make a city more alive. Well, yeah, those are two things they told us about the art museum. So in order to be a good civic building, be like the art museum, not like the concert hall. That's the principle that underlies this argument and it is our correct answer.
