PT158 · S3 · Q5 Domesticated animals, such as dogs

The argument claims that wild animals can be domesticated through selective breeding. Whether domesticated animals can be turned back into wild ones through the reverse process is a completely separate question. The argument is about the feasibility of one-directional transformation — wild to domestic — and the reversibility of that process has no bearing on whether the forward process works for all species. Even if domesticated animals cannot be turned wild again, that tells us nothing about whether all wild species have the tame members needed to begin the domestication process. This answer addresses the reverse direction of a process when the argument is only about the forward direction.

The frequency of mating between wild and tame members does not address the argument's core assumption. The argument claims all animals can be domesticated by selectively breeding tame individuals. For this to fail, there must be species where the process cannot get started — where no tame individuals exist. Whether wild members mate more frequently than tame ones is a practical complication about breeding logistics, not a fundamental barrier to the process. As long as some tame individuals exist, a determined breeder could isolate them for selective breeding regardless of the mating preferences of wild members. The process might be slower or more difficult, but it would not be impossible in principle, and the argument's claim is about what is possible "in principle."

Lower fertility among tame members creates a practical challenge for selective breeding but does not make the process impossible in principle. The argument claims all animals can be domesticated "in principle," which concerns theoretical possibility rather than practical ease. Even if tame members are less fertile, they are not infertile — they can still reproduce, just at lower rates. A selective breeding program would take longer and be more difficult, but it could still proceed as long as tame individuals exist and can produce offspring. The argument's real vulnerability is the assumption that tame individuals exist in every species, not that the existing tame individuals breed at optimal rates. This answer identifies a speed bump, not a roadblock.

The existence of varying tameness levels within already-domesticated species tells us nothing about whether all wild species can be domesticated in the first place. The argument's claim is about the universality of the domestication process across species, not about variation within species that have already been domesticated. The fact that some dogs are tamer than others does not address whether, say, a completely wild species with no tame members can be domesticated. This answer describes a characteristic of the outcome of successful domestication rather than addressing whether the process can succeed universally. It is about post-domestication variation, while the argument's vulnerability concerns pre-domestication preconditions.