Self-study
Support Recently discovered bird fossils are about 20 million years older than the fossils of the birdlike dinosaurs from which the birds are generally claimed to have descended. ██ █████ █████ ██████████ ███████ █████ ████████ ██ ███ ███████ ████████ ██ ████ ████████████████ ████ ██ ████ █████████ ████ ███ █████████
Summarize Argument: Counter-Position
The argument concludes that no birds descended from dinosaurs, counter to a common claim. This is based on the discovery that some bird fossils predate the fossils of dinosaurs from which birds were previously thought to have descended, so those birds couldn’t have descended from those dinosaurs.
Identify and Describe Flaw
The argument takes evidence proving that certain birds didn’t descend from certain dinosaurs to support a conclusion that no birds descended from any dinosaurs. However, it’s still totally possible that other birds were descended from those birdlike dinosaurs, or even that the newly discovered birds were descended from even older dinosaurs.
6.
The reasoning in the argument ██ ██████ ██ ████ ███ ████████
a
draws a generalization ████ ██ ███████ ████ ██ █████████ ██ ███ ████████ █████
The argument generalizes that the entire hypothesis of birds descending from dinosaurs must not be true, based on findings that only disprove certain birds descending from certain dinosaurs.
b
rejects the consensus ████ ██ ███████ ██ ███ █████ ███████ █████████ ███ ███████████████
The argument rejects a described consensus view of experts, but this is based on the provided counterevidence of bird fossils which predate the fossils of their claimed dinosaur ancestors.
c
attacks the adherents ██ ███ ████████ ████ ██████████ ███████ ██ ██████████ ███ ██████ ███ █████ ████
The argument doesn’t make any personal attacks, and does address at least one reason for the opposing view.
d
fails to consider ███ ███████████ ████ █████████ █████████ ████ █████
The argument only attempts to counter the hypothesis that birds descended from dinosaurs. The possibility that dinosaurs descended from birds is irrelevant (and clearly absurd).
e
ignores the possibility ████ █████████ ███ █████ █████████ ████ █ ██████ ████████
There’s no need for the argument to consider this possibility. The argument is only concerned with countering the hypothesis that birds descended from dinosaurs, not with providing any other hypotheses about evolution.