45.1.18 There is evidence to suggest

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OK, this is another one that I just can't wrap my head around the correct answer choice relative to an incorrect answer choice. This is getting beyond frustrating ugh. Here is my breakdown:

This is a weaken question.

There is evidence that cave people polished their flints to a degree beyond what was necessary for hunting. Therefore, these people possessed an aesthetic sense.

What I am looking for: I think this makes the false dichotomy flaw. The argument assumes that the flints were either used for hunting or for aesthetic reasons. We want an answer choice that addresses this. I also looked up aesthetic during BR, in case my personal definition is incorrect. It means concerned with beauty or the appreciation of beauty.

Answer A: This does nothing to the argument since it doesn't address whether the flints were used for aesthetic reasons.

Answer B: This does nothing to the argument because we don't know if cave paintings provide evidence or not of an aesthetic sense. We just don't have any information about cave paintings to know if they are relevant to the argument.

Answer C: This is what I chose during the exam and during BR. I don't really see how the use of the word "display" allows you to eliminate this answer choice. Can't things be on display that are not used for aesthetic purposes? Especially for religion? Religious display seems like a worship use, not an aesthetic use. What also makes this attractive to me is that this is providing evidence that the highly polished flints (the ones we care about) were used for something other than hunting as well.

Answer This answer is the correct answer, but I run into the same problems as C. It is similar to C because it suggests that the flints were used for things other than hunting. However, I didn't choose it for two independent reasons. First, this answer choice is talking about flints in general, but we really want to know about the highly polished flints. If this answer choice had added "highly polished" as the first two words, then I think this answer choice becomes apparent.

The second reason (and I used this reason during BR) I eliminated it is the conclusion doesn't actually say that the highly polished flints were USED for aesthetic purposes. The conclusion is just that these early humans had an aesthetic sense. Specifically, this answer choice states that the flints were used for chores. Common chores are cleaning, taking out the garbage, etc. Are these not at least partly aesthetic enhancers? Do these not partly concern themselves with the beauty of the home? I think in this instance, D could strengthen the argument. For this possibility, I eliminated it and chose C.

Answer E: So what if we don't understand the benefits of their aesthetic sense.

c.janson35

"Common chores are cleaning, taking out the garbage, etc. Are these not at least partly aesthetic enhancers? Do these not partly concern themselves with the beauty of the home?"

I think that's a really big assumption to make. Also, the chores of today are not the chores of our cave dwelling ancestors, so that analysis isn't relevant in my opinion.

The flaw in the argument is that the author assumes, because some flints were polished beyond what was necessary for hunting, that they were polished because the cave dwellers were more aesthetically pleased by them. But what if there are other reasons other than hunting why the flints were used? Then the reasoning that "too polished for hunting thus concerned with aesthetics" falls flat.

C and D give us two other uses.

C indicates that the reason the flints were highly polished is to be put on display. If highly polished flints were displayed during religious ceremonies, then there's nothing to say that the reason why they were wasn't because of aesthetics. And if the flints were used only for worship use as you point out, then why take the time to highly polish the ones that were used for these purposes? Why wouldn't ordinary flints suffice? There has to be a reason why the flints used for religious purposes were highly polished, and it very well could be that they wanted nicer flints to honor their God/s. This still indicates that they possessed an aesthetic sense because how else would they know one was nicer than the other?

You're right in that D is talking about flints in general, but it's reasonable to assume this encompasses the highly polished flints. If the the reason the flints were highly polished were to accomplish other chores, then this severely weakens the argument that they were polished to be more astheticallu pleasing.


Hope this helps!