Self-study
Theorist: Support To be capable of planned locomotion, an organism must be able both to form an internal representation of its environment and to send messages to its muscles to control movements. ████ ██ ████████ ████ █████████ ████ █ ███████ ███████ ███████ █████ ██ ████████ █████████ ██ ███████ ██████████ ████ ███ ████ █ ███████ ███████ ███████
Summarize Argument
The author concludes that an organism incapable of planned locomotion does not have a central nervous system. This is based on the fact that, in order to be capable of planned locomotion, an organism must have a central nervous system.
Identify and Describe Flaw
The author confuses a sufficient condition for having a central nervous system (capable of planned locomotion) with a necessary condition. This overlooks the possibility that organisms that can’t do planned locomotion can still have a central nervous system. (Note that this can also be described as confusing a necessary condition with a sufficient condition.)
16.
The theorist's argument is flawed ██ ████ ██
a
confuses a necessary █████████ ███ ██ ██████████ ██████████ █ ████████ ████ █ ██████████ ███
The confuses a necessary condition (having central nervous system) for an organism’s possessing a capacity (capable of planned locomotion) with a sufficient one. This overlooks the possibility that an animal can have a central nervous system without planned locomotion.
b
takes for granted ████ █████████ ███████ ██ ███████ ████████ ████ █████ ███████ ███████ ███████ ██ █████ ███████ ███ ████ ███████ ██ ██████████
There are no assumptions about sending messages “from their central nervous system.” Although the author does assume that organisms with a central nervous system are capable of planned locomotion, that doesn’t imply the author thinks the nervous system sends message to muscles.
c
presumes, without providing ██████████████ ████ ███████ ██████████ ██ ███ ████ ████████████ ██████ ███████ ███ ██ ██████████ ███████ ██ ████████ ██████████████ ██ ███ ███████████
The argument doesn’t make assumptions about what is “biologically useful.” The argument is based on a misinterpretation of the fact that a central nervous system is necessary for planned locomotion. What is biologically useful has no part on the reasoning.
d
takes for granted ████ ███████████ ████ █████ █ ████████████ ██████ ███████ ██████████ ████ █████ ███ ████ ███████
The argument doesn’t make assumptions about what is “biologically useful” or the original purpose of a biologically useful adaptation. The argument is based on a misinterpretation of the fact that a central nervous system is necessary for planned locomotion.
e
presumes, without providing ██████████████ ████ ██ ████████ ██████████████ ██ ███ ███████████ ███ ██ ██████ ██ ██ ████████ ████ ████ █ ███████████ ███████ ██████
The argument doesn’t make any assumptions about a “rudimentary nervous system.” We don’t know whether any organism has a rudimentary nervous system. It’s not clear whether a central nervous system is rudimentary or not.