Self-study
Support Given the shape of the hip and foot bones of the Kodiak bear, it has been determined that standing and walking upright is completely natural behavior for these bears. █████ ███████ ██ ████ ████ ██ ███████████ ███ ███ █ ███████ ████████ ██ ███ ███████
Summarize Argument
The author concludes that walking on hind legs is instinctive for Kodiak bears and not a learned behavior. He supports this by saying that their bone structure makes walking upright completely natural for them.
Identify and Describe Flaw
The author assumes that because it’s instinctive for Kodiak bears, walking on hind legs is not a learned behavior. He ignores the possibility that walking on hind legs might be both an instinctive and a learned behavior.
8.
To which one of the █████████ ██████████ ██ ███ ████████ ████ ███████████
a
The argument incorrectly ███████████ ████ ███ ████████ ██ █ ███ █████ ██ ███████ ██ ███ ███████████
This is the cookie-cutter flaw of hasty generalization, where the argument draws a broad conclusion based on too little evidence. The author doesn’t make this mistake; he draws a conclusion about the behavior of all Kodiaks based on a premise about the bones of all Kodiaks.
b
The argument fails ██ ████████ ███ ███████████ ████ ███████ ██ ████ ████ ██ ███ ██████ ██ ████ ████████ ███ ██ ██████ █████████
The author assumes that, because walking on hind legs is completely natural for Kodiak bears, it must not be a learned behavior. He fails to consider that it could be both an innate behavior due to the bears’ bone structure and also a learned behavior.
c
The word "behavior" █████████ ███████ ███████ ██████ ███ ██████ ██ ███ █████████
This is the cookie-cutter flaw of equivocation, where the same term is used in different ways throughout the argument. The author doesn’t make this mistake; he uses the word “behavior” consistently and he clearly distinguished between “natural behavior” and “learned behavior.”
d
The argument presumes, ███████ ██████ ██████████████ ████ ███ ████████ ███ ██ █████████ ██ ███ ██ ████ ██ ████ ███ █████
The author isn’t addressing all behavior, only the bears’ behavior of walking on hind legs. Also, his mistake is that he assumes that walking on hind legs cannot be explained by both innate and learned behaviors.
e
The argument incorrectly ███████ ██ ███ █████████ ██ ███████ ██ █████ ██ ███████ ███ ███████████
The author relies on a scientific claim to support his conclusion, so his argument doesn’t incorrectly appeal to the authority of science.