Logical Reasoning

PT136 · S4 · Q22 Meerkat "sentinels," so-called because they

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Meerkat "sentinels," so-called because they watch for predators while other meerkat group members forage, almost never fall victim to those predators, yet the foragers often do.

Conclusion

The sentinel's behavior is not entirely self-interested / it's at least somewhat altruistic.

Evidence

Even though the sentinel gets killed by predators less often than the foragers do, the sentinel's loud bark alerts the foraging meerkats to the presence of danger.

Evaluate

The author is concluding that the sentinel is acting at least somewhat altruistically because its bark warns the other meerkats of danger.

If we were trying to argue the anti-conclusion (that the sentinel's behavior is entirely self-interested, not altruistic), then how would we explain the barking?

Well, maybe the sentinel just starts barking because he's freaked-out by seeing a predator. The stimulus says the loud bark is emitted as the sentinel dashes for cover. So it's not like the sentinel runs back to the others and says, . It's more like the sentinel gets freaked out, yells "Aaaaaaahhhh!", and dives for cover.

Meanwhile, the foraging meerkats hear the yelp of terror and think, "Eddie's scared -- there must be a predator."

Goal

This seems to test a distinction LSAT goes back to a lot (in the top 15, but not top 10 of famous flaws) between Intent vs. Result

The barking Results in a beneficial warning to the other meerkats, but the author is acting like we know that the Intent of the barking was to benefit others; it's possible the barking was just an expression of sheer terror.

Accordingly, an answer might describe this with Causal flaw language, since the author is concluding one causal interpretation for the barking (trying to warn others) when other possible interpretations are available (involuntary sounds of terror).

22.

Which one of the following is a questionable reasoning technique employed in the argument?

  1. appealing to evidence that tends

    Wrong Flaw: self-contradiction

    This wasn't an example of the famous Internal Contradiction flaw. The author's evidence can be interpreted more than one way, but it doesn't undermine her conclusion.

    7% picked this

  2. appealing to evidence that presupposes

    Wrong Flaw: circular

    This was not a circular argument, in which the evidence is basically a restatement of the conclusion. The evidence (the sentinel's bark warns the others of danger) is not a restatement of the conclusion (the sentinel's bark is partially altruistic).

    5% picked this

  3. Correct

    inferring solely from an effect

    Why this is right

    This gets at the Result vs. Intent distinction. The action of the sentinel's bark produces the effect of the foragers being warned of danger. Our author infers / assumes that the sentinel's purpose in barking was to warn the foragers of danger, and hence that their action was somewhat altruistic.

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

    80% picked this

  4. inferring solely from the claim

    Bad Conclusion Match

    When someone says "the gas tank is at least partially full", they aren't claiming that "the gas tank is entirely full". They're allowing for the possibility that it's totally full. This author concluded that the sentinel's behavior is at least partially altruistic, but we can't say that our author ever inferred that the sentinel's behavior is entirely altruistic.

    7% picked this

  5. concluding that a claim is

    Wrong Flaw

    Wrong Flaw: unproven vs. proven false Bad Evidence Match Did the author conclude a claim is false? I guess we could say that she concluded the claim that "the sentinel's behavior is entirely self-interested" is false. Did her evidence pick apart someone else's argument? No. That's what this answer is describing. Her evidence was just telling us that the sentinel's bark warns others of danger.

    1% picked this

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