Logical Reasoning

PT152 · S4 · Q10 A traditional view of Neanderthals

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A traditional view of Neanderthals is that they lacked the ability to think symbolically.

Main Conclusion (rebuttal to trad. view)

This view is mistaken. rephrase: Neanderthals did have the ability to think symbolically.

Intermediate Conclusion (therefore)

It's likely that this cave painting from northern Spain was made by a Neanderthal.

Evidence

We found a cave painting in northern Spain created at least 40,800 years ago.

Evaluate

Since the author as a 3-part argument, we should think about what assumptions are being made with each of the author's two moves.

When it comes to the move from to "the painting was probably made by a Neanderthal", the author is assuming things like this: - there were Neanderthals in the area of northern Spain 41,000 years ago. - there weren't any other groups of hominids in the area of northern Spain 41,000 years ago who would be more likely than Neanderthals to be responsible for this painting

What about the move from Intermediate to Main Conclusion? The author is going from "this cave painting was done by a Neanderthal" to "Neanderthals had the ability to think symbolically".

The author is assuming that, .

Goal

Let's look for something like, "cave paintings are evidence of symbolic thinking" or something like .

10.

Which one of the following is an assumption required by the argument?

  1. Neanderthals are known to have

    Out of Scope: known

    In order for the author's hypothesis that a Neanderthal painted this cave painting to be plausible, he does need to assume that Neanderthals possessed the manual dexterity to create a painting like this. But he doesn't need to assume that we already know them to possess this dexterity. Maybe this painting will be the first strong piece of evidence we have that they possessed this dexterity.

    3% picked this

  2. No species of hominid other

    Too Strong: any part

    This is too strong by saying the author needs to believe there were no other hominids anywhere in Europe 41,000 years ago. The author's argument is only affected by other hominids in the area of northern Spain where the cave painting was found. If there were some Cro-Magnons up in the Swiss Alps, that doesn't affect this argument at all.

    17% picked this

  3. Correct

    The ability to create cave

    Why this is right

    This just connects the Intermediate Conclusion to the Main Conclusion. Whenever we see a Main Conclusion on an Assumption question and it has a crucial term that was never discussed in the evidence (here, it's "think symbolically"), then we're almost guaranteed to see that crucial term in the correct answer. If we didn't even have "think symbolically" on our radar, it means that we failed to see the Rebuttal in the 2nd sentence, or we saw it but failed to rephrase the conclusion (take it out of its generic "this view is mistaken" form and import the referential language so we hear it saying "this view that Neanderthals didn't have the ability to think symbolically is mistaken"). If we negated this answer, it would badly weaken the argument. If the ability to create a cave painting like the one they found does not indicate an ability to think symbolically, then the author has presented no evidence at all to support the claim that Neanderthals had the ability to think symbolically.

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

    78% picked this

  4. The recent evidence regarding the

    Too Strong: first

    The author's argument isn't hurt at all if it turns out that this cave painting is the second piece of evidence we have to suggest that Neanderthals could think symbolically. So the author doesn't need to assume that it's the first piece.

    2% picked this

  5. Any species of hominid that

    Illegal Negation

    This author was assuming, If a species of hominid then they had (like Neanderthals) can ? the ability to create a cave painting think symbolically This answer provides an illegal negation of that move. If a species of hominid then they lack (like Neanderthals) can't ? the ability to create a cave painting think symbolically It's also too broad for this answer to be about all species of hominids rather than just about Neanderthals.

    1% picked this

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