Self-study
Very little is known about prehistoric hominid cave dwellers. ████████ █ ██████ █████ ██ █████████ ██ █████ ████████ ███ ████████ ██ █████████ ████ █████ █████ █████ ███████████ ████████ █████████ ███████ ███ ████ ████ ███ ████ ███ ████████████ ██ █████████ █████████ ██ █████ ███████ ██████████ ██ ██ ██████ ████ █████ ████ ████████ ███████ ██ ██████████ ███████ ██ █████ ████████████████ ███ ████████ ████████
Summary
Because the skull fractures of prehistoric hominids are similar to the skull fractures of rodeo riders today, the hominids likely participated in the same activities that rodeo riders do today.
Notable Assumptions
This argument moves from a claim that two things (in this case, skull fractures) are similar, to a claim that they are therefore likely caused by the same thing (chasing and tackling animals). This move relies on an assumption that similar outcomes are likely to have been produced by similar causes. We’re therefore looking for some principle that helps satisfy that assumption.
7.
Which one of the following ███████████ ██ ██████ ████ █████ ██ ███████ ███ █████████████ ██████
a
The primary source ██ █████ █████ ███ █████ ██ ███████████ ████████ ██ █████ ████████ ████████
Nothing in the argument is focused on the primary source of clues about hominids, and this doesn’t help justify the conclusion about what caused the skull fractures.
b
The most important ██████ ██ ███████████ ████ ██ ██ ███████ ██ ███ ████ ███ █████████
Nothing in the argument is about how important it is to study different aspects of prehistoric life.
c
If direct evidence ██ ██ ███ █████ ██ █ ██████████ ██ ██████████ ████ ████████ ████████ ██████ ███ ██ ███████
Wrong trigger. In this case, there is no direct evidence of what caused the skull fractures.
d
If there is █ ██████████ ███████ ███ ████████ ████ █████ ██ ████████ █ ██████████ ███████ █████ ███████
This helps justify the causal claim made in the argument’s conclusion. The fact that the skull fractures (effects) are the same as those suffered by rodeo riders makes it likely that they were caused by the same thing that causes them in rodeo riders.
e
The frequency with █████ █ █████████ ████████ ██ █████████ ██ ████████████ ██ ███ █████████ ██ ████████ █████████ ████ ████ █████████
Wrong trigger. The argument isn’t discussing the frequency of an activity being performed or the frequency of a specific type of injury.