Self-study
Conclusion Biologists are mistaken in thinking that the fossil record provides direct evidence of the course of human evolution. ███████ ██████ ██ ███████████ ████████████ ███ ████████ ███████████████ ██ █████ ████ ███ ██████████ ██████████ ███████ ███ ██████ ███ ███████████████ ████ ██ █████ ███ ████████ ███████████ █ ██████ ██ █████ ███████ ██ █████████ ██ ███████ ███████ ████████ ██████ ███ ███████ ████ ██████████ █████████████ █████ ████████ ████ █████
Summarize Argument: Counter-Position
The author concludes that biologists are wrong when they think that the fossil record provides direct evidence of the course of human evolution. In other words, the fossil record does not provide direct evidence of the course of human evolution. This conclusion is based on the subsidiary conclusion that fossils can’t be interpreted objectively. As an example supporting this subsidiary conclusion, the author points out that classifying a pelvis fossil as human based on its upright posture requires assuming that apes didn’t have an upright posture.
Identify Conclusion
The conclusion is that the biologists are wrong: “Biologists are mistaken in thinking that the fossil record provides direct evidence of the course of human evolution.”
14.
Which one of the following ████ ██████████ █████████ ███ ███████ ██████████ ██ ███ █████████
a
No early apes ███ ████████ ████ █████ ███████ ██ ███████ ████████
The author doesn’t necessarily agree with this. This is an assumption the author believes we make when classifying a pelvis as human based on its upright posture. But the author suggests this assumption might be wrong; it’s not an objective interpretation.
b
The claims made ██ ████████████ █████████ ██████ ██ ███████████ ███████
The author never stated this. Although we can infer the author would agree with this statement, he never actually stated this.
c
The fossil remains ██ ████ █████ ████████ ███ █████████ ██ ███████████ ████ █████ ██ █████
The author never stated this. The author never comments on the difficulty of distinguishing early hominid fossils from ape fossils. Although the author indicates that distinguishing between the two involves subjective interpretation, that’s not a comment on difficulty.
d
The fossil record ████ ███ ████████ ██████ ███ ██████ ██ █████ ██████████
This is a paraphrase of the claim that biologists are mistaken in thinking that the fossil record provides direct evidence of the course of human revolution.
e
Paleontologists' classifications of ███████ ███ ██████ ██████████ ██ ███ ████████ ████ █████ ██████████ ███ ████████
This is part of the author’s support. Because paleontologists’ interpretations reflect the models they want to test, the author concludes that the fossil record does not provide direct evidence of the course of human evolution.