Self-study
Principle: People should not feed wild animals because it makes them dependent on humans and less likely to survive on their own.
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"Surprising" Phenomenon
How can feeding wild birds be justified when doing so makes the birds dependent on humans and less likely to survive on their own?
Objective
The stimulus provides a general principle and then a specific example of a behavior that defies the principle’s suggestion. In order to justify the specific example, the right answer must add some information about the lived reality of the bird lovers and the birds that the general principle fails to account for or consider.
7.
Which one of the following, ██ ████████ █████ ████ ████ ██ ███████ ████████ ███ █████ ███████ ██ ████ █████ ██ ██ █████████ ██ ███ █████████ ██████
a
Congregating around human ████ ███████ █████ ████ █████ ████ ██████████ ██ █████████ ███ █████████
This is the opposite of helpful. Instead of explaining why feeding birds could be justified, (A) adds another reason why it isn’t.
b
Some species of ████ █████ ███████ ██████ ██ █████████ █████ ███████ ██ ██████████ ███ █████ ██████ ██████
We need an answer that justifies feeding birds, not an explanation of how birds benefit humanity. Additionally, by describing how birds benefit humans, (B) adds to the importance of protecting birds, which does the opposite of justifying feeding—and thereby harming—them.
c
Wild birds are ████ ████ ██████ ██ ██████████ ██ █████ █████ ████ ███ ███ ████ ██ █████ █████ ████ ███ ███ ████
This makes sense—of course birds are more likely to flock to a place where they’re provided with food! If this answer went further and told us that bird congregation is good for birds in some way, it might’ve been right. As it is, (C) doesn’t provide the justification we need.
d
Most bird lovers ███ ████ ██████ ██ ███████ ██ ████████ ███ ████████ ██ ██████████ ███████ ██ ████ █████ ███ █████ ████████
This has nothing to do with feeding birds, so it doesn’t justify that act. It might make us more sympathetic to bird lovers—at least they’re trying to preserve habitats even though they’re also harming birds by feeding them—but it doesn’t justify the choice to feed the birds.
e
Human settlement is ██ █████████ ██ ███ ███████ ██ ████ ████ █████ ████ ████ ████ ██████ ██ ████ ██ █████ ███████ ██ ████ ███ █████████
This is the justification we’re looking for! Even if it’s theoretically bad to feed birds because it makes them dependent on humans, the reality is that most wild birds already depend on humans, so feeding them is actually important for their survival.