Q27

[T.housman31]

Why is D correct instead of E. I feel that E should be correct because it affirms the general principle that the author stresses in the beginning, that Mark Jones Fake might equally be entitled original?, because of the spectrum of possibilities between a work of art that is fake or original. Paragraph 3 functions in the context of the paragraph by affirming this principle I felt. I don't understand how it examines "another" facet of distinction...

Please Help!

[ManhattanPrepLSAT1]

I'll admit that the reading on this one is a slow go!

The facet of distinction that is developed in the preceding paragraphs is commercial facsimiles. This distinction is developed in the last sentence of the first paragraph. Commercial facsimiles are examined in the third paragraph, so answer choice (D) does describe the function.

For answer choice (E), unfortunately you're not looking at the general principle the answer choice is referring to. The general principle enunciated at the beginning of the passage is that, "a fake can be defined as an artwork intended to deceive."

The claim you're looking at is not actually a principle, since it applies only to the one instance of the book written by Mark Jones. Principles are sweeping statements that can be applied to many instances (like the statement in quotes above).

Does that help clear this one up?

[perng.yan]

hm... sort of...

how does the concept that "authenticity is a foreign concept in certain cultures" (main idea of last paragraph) an examination of another facet of a a distincition developed in the preceding paragraphs (answer choice D)?

so the preceding paragraphs talk about what is fake and what is real.. and that sometimes faking flourishes whenever art collection flourishes..

so the last paragraph, by talking about how some things considered fake may not be fake in that country is another aspect of the distinctions discusses above? VERY CONFUSING.

thanks.

[ManhattanPrepLSAT1]

They're not actually discussing fake vs not fake. Instead the passage about discussing things that exist in some sort of middle ground between fake and not fake. The last sentence of the first paragraph discusses many things that all fit into this category: works by an artist’s followers in the style of the master, deliberate archaism, copying for pedagogical purposes, and the production of commercial facsimiles. Each of these things are not intended to deceive (the definition of a fake) and yet are not originals.

Notice the last paragraph is about commercial facsimiles. Since that distinction is drawn in the first paragraph and commercial facsimiles are examined in the final paragraph, answer choice (D) does in fact describe the function of the paragraph (to simply discuss commercial facsimiles, which are introduced in the first paragraph).

[perng.yan]

got it.

[austindyoung]

Matt Sherman! Wow- that was a great explanation, thank you so much.

I got this question correct, however I marked it as hard to review it.

I thought it was hard because (D) states, "distinction developed" and "developed" is a broad word than can include things like examples, principles, and whatever helps the argument. Also, I thought it was interesting that (D) stated "paragraphs" plural.

I think that it did that because, as you said, the distinction is developed in the last sentence in the first paragraph. These are the "facets." Facets of what distinction?- the possibilities between the two poles of fake and original (distinction); which is right before the last sentence in P1.

So, development is broad- and since (D) states "paragraphs" and not "a paragraph" this development of a distinction also occurs in the second paragraph. That is the expounding (the development) of the distinction by giving examples of the facets of that distinction, like deliberate archaism.

The development of distinction occurs once again in the last paragraph, with the examination of another facet, commercial facsimiles.

At least, this is how I had to think of the question upon review. I could be off.

I think by wise-POE, we can eliminate the other answers

[asafezrati]

I'm having some problems with this answer choice:

A - It seems that there is a question which the author is trying to examine - what is a fake.
The last paragraph speaks about one possible answer to this idea, which is based on a different culture, and thus shows that the issue is complex.

Maybe it is wrong because the "tentative answer" is the means to achieve the goal (function) - an examination of a different facet of the question as it is view from this other culture.

[maryadkins]

Regarding (A), I wouldn't say the author is trying to answer the question of what is a fake as presented in the opening paragraph. Think about it: in the final paragraph, she isn't saying that IN GENERAL a fake should be determined by whether it had function, like it does among the Bambara people. She's just giving an example of a cultural situation in which a certain standard is used (what its function was). And it's a new facet of the distinction between "real" and "fake" as developed in the passage previously, i.e. (D) (I don't think you actually have to get into the weeds of the "nothing is real OR fake" stuff in the previous conversation on this thread to get to this answer.)

As for (B) and (C) which have yet to be discussed on this thread, (B) is incorrect because it's not a summary, and (C) is incorrect because it takes a turn from the previous paragraph instead of continuing to support it.

[jm.kahn]

They're not actually discussing fake vs not fake. Instead the passage about discussing things that exist in some sort of middle ground between fake and not fake. The last sentence of the first paragraph discusses many things that all fit into this category: works by an artist’s followers in the style of the master, deliberate archaism, copying for pedagogical purposes, and the production of commercial facsimiles. Each of these things are not intended to deceive (the definition of a fake) and yet are not originals.

Notice the last paragraph is about commercial facsimiles. Since that distinction is drawn in the first paragraph and commercial facsimiles are examined in the final paragraph, answer choice (D) does in fact describe the function of the paragraph (to simply discuss commercial facsimiles, which are introduced in the first paragraph).

I think your explanation got me aligned to thinking closely as to why D is right, but I wasn't clear if the reasons that I arrived at for D being right and E being wrong are the same as yours.

D is right because the facet that is discussed in the last paragraph is whether the issue of fake vs original can be determinable based on the function/intended purpose. This facet (issue of determining authenticity based on function) of the distinction (between fake vs original) is discussed in the last para and this distinction is clearly developed in the preceding paragraphs. Both para-1 and para-2 develop the distinction between fake vs original.

E is wrong because the last para doesn’t really affirm the principle mentioned in the first para about motives of creator being decisive in determining fake vs original. Based on the last sentence of the passage ("One wonders..."), the last para is actually equivocal about whether the function determines authenticity.