Summarize Argument: Phenomenon-Hypothesis
The author hypothesizes that the Neanderthals who had used a particular campsite had inhabited the campsite year-round and were not nomadic. This is based on the the fact that discarded gazelle teeth at the campsite showed that the gazelles were hunted throughout the year. This was unlike what was found in a nearby campsite of a nomadic Cro-Magnon group, which contained teeth from gazelles killed only during a single season.
Notable Assumptions
The author assumes that the only explanation for the presence of discarded gazelle teeth from gazelles hunted throughout the year is that the Neanderthals lived at the campsite all year.
A
Neanderthals hunted a wide variety of both migratory and nonmigratory animals.
If (A) does anything, it might support the theory that the Neanderthals stayed at the campsite by showing that Neanderthals did not need to follow a migratory animals around for food.
B
Cro-Magnons and Neanderthals sometimes exchanged tools.
An exchange of tools has no clear relationship to whether Neanderthals were nomadic or stayed in the same place. Perhaps the exchange of tools happened when the Cro-Magnons happened to be in the area around the Neanderthals.
C
Neanderthals saved gazelle teeth for use in religious rituals and later discarded them.
This provides another explanation for the presence of discarded gazelle teeth that showed gazelles were hunted throughout the year. The Neanderthals may have moved around, hunted gazelles as they moved, and then dumped the teeth they collected at one campsite.
D
Cro-Magnons usually followed the migrations of the animals they hunted.
This suggests that Cro-Magnons were nomadic. But Neanderthals are a different group and we have reason to think Neanderthals behaved differently from Cro-Magnons (the difference in gazelle teeth at each campsite).
E
Gazelles inhabited the area around the campsites year-round.
This supports the author’s theory by showing that Neanderthals could have stayed at the site year-round and hunted gazelles year-round. This eliminates the possibility that gazelles were in the area for only a short time each year.
Miriam: A moral theory, like an overcoat, can be quite useful even if it is not useful in every possible situation. Being useful in a wide variety of common circumstances is all we need from a moral theory.
Speaker 1 Summary
Laurel concludes that modern moral theories have to be abandoned or reworked, because they don’t provide guidance in extreme. Extreme cases are the times when people most need guidance.
Speaker 2 Summary
Miriam asserts that moral theories can still be useful, even if not useful in all situations. They serve their purpose if they’re useful in a wide variety of common situations.
Objective
We’re looking for a point of disagreement. They disagree about whether moral theories’ failure to help in extreme situations justifies abandoning or reworking them. Laurel think it does, but Miriam thinks it doesn’t.
A
it is preferable to develop a moral theory that provides solutions to all the moral dilemmas that could arise
Miriam doesn’t have an opinion. She describes what we need from a moral theory, but doesn’t describe whether it’d be better for a moral theory to provide solutions to all problems that could arise.
B
people abandoned earlier moral theories when they encountered dilemmas that those theories did not adequately address
Neither speaker has an opinion. They don’t discuss whether people abandoned earlier theories or why people abandoned earlier theories.
C
a moral theory’s adequacy depends on its ability to provide guidance in extreme cases
This is a point of disagreement. Laurel thinks a moral theory’s adequacy does depend on its ability to guide in extreme cases. But Miriam believes it doesn’t. A moral theory just needs to provide guidance in the most common situations.
D
just as people need different overcoats in different climates, so too do they need different moral theories on different occasions
Neither speaker has an opinion. They don’t discuss whether people ever need different moral theories during different situations.
E
a moral theory developed in the light of extreme cases is unlikely to provide adequate guidance in more usual cases
Neither speaker has an opinion. They don’t discuss whether moral theories that apply in extreme cases are unlikely to provide guidance in more typical cases.