Help Please! June 1997 #11 "Even though Apes"

ncesomonu

Ok so I would appreciate feedback on my thought process for this Nec. Assumption question. I chose B incorrectly and am trying f

Conclusion: philosophical thought is unique to humans

Evidence: Apes are the only nonhuman animals who can learn human language.

Apes have never verbally articulated, in human language, philosophical questions

Ok, so the gaps/assumptions I noted were:
1. The author is assuming that because the apes haven't asked these questions in human language that they are incapable of phil. thought; but what if the apes are perfectly capable of asking phil. questions in human language but just haven't done so. So to add on to the first assumption the author is concluding that in order to prove that a creature can think philosophically, the creature has to have demonstrated that it can think philosophically by expressing philosophical thoughts through human language. The ape hasn't expressed philosophical thoughts through human language and therefore must be incapable of philosophical thought.

I chose B because I was focusing on this gap of the argument; just because the ape hasn't physically expressed a philosophical question in human language doesn't mean that they can't think philosophically. Maybe they can think about these philosophical things without speaking (which means they are capable of philosophical thought). So I chose B because I felt it closed up the gap. If apes are incapable of thinking in human language, that can explain why they haven't asked any phil questions in human language.


But I'm noticing something as I type. Just because apes are incapable of thinking in human language doesn't mean that they are necessarily incapable of philosophical thought. It could be the case that they think philosophically in their own ape language. So the assumption I'm realizing now that the test is looking for is something along the lines that to be capable of philosophical thoughts, creatures must be able to express phil. thoughts using human language.

An ape can't express phil. thoughts using human language and therefore can't think phil.

A bear can't express phil. thoughts using human langauge and therefore can't think phil.

This matches up best with answer C.

Why I didn't choose C was because it discusses the way in which philosophical thought can be expressed and I reckoned that we're more concerned with if creatures can think a certain way not if they can express that they think a certain way. In other words, if the answer choice said THE ONLY creatures capable of philosophical thought can express phil. thought in human language, I would have chosen this.

Can someone explain why answer choice C is correct even though it just talks about how phil. thought can be expressed??

Thanks so much in advance

c.janson35

Apes are the only animals capable of learning human language. So, Phil thought (PT) is unique to humans.

The gap alarm should be going off in your head! What's the gap?

"In order to express PT you must be capable of learning HL"

Why? Because if you could express PT without learning HL then the conclusion that PT is unique to humans would be in serious doubt.

C is the only answer that links these two ideas up, and it's almost identical to the above pre-phrased gap.