Logical Reasoning

PT103 · S2 · Q19 Anthropologist: Violence is an

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Anthropologist: Violence is an extreme form of aggression, and is distinct from the self-expression sufficient for survival under normal conditions.

Statements

Violence is an extreme form of aggression.

Violence ≠ the self-expression sufficient for survival under normal conditions.

conditional (only = Right side, necessary)

Humans sometimes conditioned by react to unpleasant → culture to react stimuli with violence this way

Evaluate

There are going to be four Must Be True answers that we will eliminate; we probably won't be able to predict all of those, but we can think about what Must Be True inferences we can make to get a head start.

There is a conditional provided. Does anything trigger it, or trigger its contrapositive? Not really.

We could synthesize claims where we see Overlapping Info. The first and second sentence both involve the term violence, so we could synthesize them by saying something like,

Cultures sometimes condition people to react in a way that is an extreme form of aggression

or

Cultures sometimes condition people to react in a way that is different from the self-expression sufficient for survival under normal conditions.

Goal

We need to find four answers we can derive from the paragraph. The correct answer might be something that goes against the passage, but more than likely it will just be something that isn't 100% derivable from the passage.

19.

Each of the following can be logically inferred from the anthropologist's statements EXCEPT:

  1. Not all aggression is violent.

    Must Be True

    Since violence is an extreme form of aggression, there must be some less extreme form of aggression that is not violent.

    11% picked this

  2. Correct

    The self-expression required for survival

    Why this is right

    We know from the first sentence that "the self-expression required for survival is generally not violent", since we're told that violence is distinct from that self-expression. But that self-expression might still be aggressive. Violence is an extreme form of aggression, but maybe a moderate form of aggression (which isn't violent) is the self-expression required for survival in general conditions.

    Skill tested: Must be True · how this choice captures the argument's function is the move to repeat next time.

    66% picked this

  3. Some behaviors are influenced by

    Must Be True

    The last sentence says that the behavior of reacting to unpleasant stimuli with violence is a direct result of having been conditioned (i.e. influenced) by our culture. Some = at least one, so we have proof that at least one behavior in influenced by our culture.

    4% picked this

  4. In normal circumstances, human beings

    Must Be True

    This can be derived from the first sentence. Since violence is distinct from the self-expression that, in normal circumstances, is sufficient for survival, we can say that in normal circumstances we can survive without violence.

    9% picked this

  5. Violent behavior is a product

    Must Be True

    This is close to one of the inferences we predicted. The last sentence is saying that we react to certain stimuli with violence, but only because we've been conditioned by our culture to react this way. Thus, that violent behavior is a product of our cultural environment. I'll be honest -- I'm dismayed by how strongly this is worded. I think the limits of what can be properly inferred would be something like, "At least some violent behavior is a product of one's cultural environment". I don't like how this answer sounds more categorical, as though "all violent behavior" were a product of one's environment. Technically we haven't talked about what causes humans to react to neutral or pleasant stimuli with violence -- maybe that violent behavior isn't a product of cultural conditioning. But sometimes on problems like Must Be True or Sufficient Assumption, which by definition should have mathematical purity / absolute truth, we still have to just pick the best available answer. (E) is more supportable than the correct answer is.

    10% picked this

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