Self-study
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. ████ █████████ ████████ ██ ███ ████████ ████ ███ ████ ████ ███ ████████ ████████ ██ ████████ ████████████████ ██ ███ █████████ ███ ██████████ ████████ ██ ██ ███████ ██ ██████ ████████ █████████ ██ █████ ██ ████ ██ █████████ ███ ████ ████ ███████ ██ ███ ████████ ██ ██ ██████ ███ ███ █████ ██ ███ ███████ ████ ██████ █████ █████ ███████ ██ ███ ████████ ██ ███████
Summarize Argument: Phenomenon-Hypothesis
The author concludes that the meerkat sentinel’s behavior as it dashes for cover after seeing a predator is motivated at least in part by altruism. This is because by dashing for cover, the sentinel alerts group members to the presence of the predator.
Identify and Describe Flaw
The author assumes that the meerkat sentinel intends to alert group members to danger when it dashes to cover. This overlooks the possibility that the sentinel solely intends to save itself, and the fact other meerkats are alerted to danger could be an unintentional side effect of dashing to save itself.
22.
Which one of the following ██ █ ████████████ █████████ █████████ ████████ ██ ███ █████████
a
appealing to evidence ████ █████ ██ █████████ ██████ ████ ███████ ███ ██████████ ██████████
The evidence does not undermine the conclusion, because it doesn’t tend to suggest that the sentinel’s behavior is not altruistic. The evidence shows that the sentinel’s dashing to cover “alerts other group members to the presence of danger.”
b
appealing to evidence ████ ███████████ ███ █████ ██ ███ ██████████ ██████████
(B) describes circular reasoning. The author’s evidence does not restate the conclusion. The conclusion asserts that the sentinel’s behavior is altruistic. The evidence does not repeat the idea that the behavior is altruistic.
c
inferring solely from ██ ██████ ████████ ██ ██ ██████ ████ █ ███████ ██ ███ ██████ ██ ██ ███████ ████ ██████
The author concludes that the sentinel’s behavior is motivated by a desire to warn others of danger merely because the behavior happens to alert others of danger. This overlooks that the effect of the behavior could be unintended by the sentinel.
d
inferring solely from ███ █████ ████ ███ ████████ ██ █ ███████ ████████ ██ ███ ████████ ███████ ████ ████ ████████ ██ ████████ ██████████
The author does not conclude that the behavior is “entirely” altruistic. The conclusion is that the behavior is motivated “at least in part by altruism.”
e
concluding that a █████ ██ █████ ██ ███ ███████ ████ ████████████ ████████ ███ ████ ███████ ██ ███████ ██
The author does not conclude that the sentinel’s behavior is partially altruistic based on a claim that there’s no evidence the behavior isn’t altruistic.