Self-study
Philosopher: Conclusion To explain the causes of cultural phenomena, a social scientist needs data about several societies: Support one cannot be sure, for example, that a given political structure is brought about only by certain ecological or climatic factors unless one knows that there are no similarly structured societies not subject to those factors, and no societies that, though subject to those factors, are not so structured.
Summarize Argument: Phenomenon-Hypothesis
To be able to explain the causes of cultural phenomena, you can’t just look at one society in isolation; you need data about several societies. Why? The philosopher walks us through an example. Say you want to know whether a certain political system can only be caused by specific environmental conditions. You’d need to know that this political system and these environmental conditions always go hand-in-hand. So, you’d need to look at the political systems and environmental conditions of several different societies to be sure there’s a pattern.
Identify Argument Part
The claim referenced in the question stem is the first sentence in the stimulus. It’s the philosopher’s main conclusion, and is supported by an example.
21.
The claim that to explain ███ ██████ ██ ████████ ██████████ █ ██████ █████████ █████ ████ █████ ███████ █████████ █████ █████ ███ ██ ███ █████████ █████ ██ ███ █████████████ ██████████
a
It describes a ███████ ████ ███ ███████████ ██████ ██ ██████ ██ ███ ██████ ███████████ ████ ███ ██████████
The referenced text doesn't describe a problem. The author never characterizes the need for data about several societies as a problem or something to be solved. In addition, the author never claims that social scientists have a need for certainty.
b
It is a ███████ ████ ██ ███████ █ ███████ ███████████ █████ █████ ███ ██████ ██ █████ ███ ██████ ██████████████
The referenced text is a conclusion. We know this because the author follows by stating, "for example." That means we are getting an example to support the reference text.
c
It is a ███████ ██████████ ████ ██ ███████████ ████ ██ ███████ ███████ ████ █████ ██ █ ██████ ████████████ ███████ █████████ ██████████ ███ █████████████ ███████████
Although the author does present an example, the example doesn’t demonstrate that there **is** a causal relationship between political structures and environmental conditions. Rather, the example shows why one needs data from several societies if one wants to provide causal explanations of cultural phenomena.
d
It is a ███████ █████ ██ ██ ███████ ██ █████ ██ █████ ██████ █████████ ███████ ██ ███ ██████████ ██ ███████████ ███████ █ █████ ████████ ██████████ ██ ███ █████ ██ ███ ██████ ██ █ █████ ███████
The author doesn’t present the referenced text as a dilemma; she doesn't suggest that there's a problem or difficulty in determining cause and effect. She merely asserts what is required to explain the causes of cultural phenomena; there's no reason to characterize this requirement as a dilemma or difficulty.
e
It is a █████ ████ ███ ███████████ ████████ ██ ███████ ██ ██████ ██ ███ ████████████ ███ ████████████ ███ █████████ ██ ███ ████ ██ ██████ █████████████
The referenced text is the conclusion. The justification is the example about what's required to show that a given political structure is caused only by certain ecological or climatic factors.