Self-study
Anthropologist: All music is based on a few main systems of scale building. ████████ ██ ███ ██████████ ██ █ ███████ █████ ████ █ ██████ ██ ██████ █████████████ ██ █████ ███████ █████ ███ █████████ ██ ██████ ████████ █ ███████ ███████ ██ ████████ ███ ███████████ ██████ ██ ███ ███████ ██████ ███ ████████ ██████ ████ ██████ █████████ ███ █████ ██ ████ ██ ███ ██████ ██████████ ███ ██████████ ██ ████████ █████ ███ ██ ██████████ ████ ██ ██████ ████████████ ██ ███ █████ █████
Summarize Argument: Phenomenon-Hypothesis
The anthropologist hypothesizes that human nature alone explains the widespread popularity of diatonic music. He supports this by saying that if musical popularity was based on social conditioning, we'd expect to see a mix of diatonic and nondiatonic scales in music across different cultures. However, diatonic scales have always been the dominant type of music worldwide.
Identify and Describe Flaw
The anthropologist offers two possible explanations for the popularity of diatonic music: human nature (or “innate dispositions...”) and social conditioning. He then assumes that if social conditioning alone can’t explain its popularity, then human nature must be the sole explanation. He ignores the possibility that human nature and social conditioning could explain it together, or that some other factor might also be involved.
25.
The anthropologist's argument is most ██████████ ██ █████████ ██ ███ ███████ ████ ██ █████ ██
a
consider the possibility ████ ████ ██████ ██████████ ███████████ █████ ████ ████ ████ ██ ████████ █████
The anthropologist doesn’t fail to consider this possibility. Diatonic scales “have always dominated the music of the world,” but it’s still possible that some people appreciate nondiatonic music more.
b
explain how innate ████████████ ████████ ████████████ ██ ███████████ █████
The anthropologist doesn’t explain this, but he doesn’t need to explain it. He’s arguing that innate dispositions explain the popularity of diatonic music.
c
explain the existence ██ ████████ ██████ ██ ████ ██ ███ █████████ ██ ███████████ ██████
The anthropologist doesn’t explain this, but he doesn’t need to. He just needs to explain why diatonic music is more popular, given the fact that both kinds of scales exist.
d
consider that innate ████████████ ███ ██████ ████████████ █████ ███████ ██████ ███ ██████████ ██ █ ████ ██ █████
The author concludes that innate dispositions alone explain the popularity of diatonic music, simply because social conditioning alone does not explain it. He fails to consider that both of these factors might affect the popularity of diatonic music together.
e
consider whether any ████████████ ██ ███████████ █████ ██ ████████████ ██ ████ ████████ ███████ ██ ███████
The anthropologist’s argument is only concerned with the popularity of diatonic music among humans. Whether some animals appreciate nondiatonic music is irrelevant.