Q16

[hwsitgoing]

I'm really stumped on this one...and can't figure out why D is the correct answer or how it is supported in the passage. I'm also having trouble eliminating C and E - guessing C could be incorrect because the evidence that animals practice deception is not "well-known," but what about E?

Thanks for any and all help! : )

[noah]

Let's start by understanding the question and considering what the answer might be. In short, the question asks us to say what B's author would say about the position in A.

Passage A outlines how animal language is mechanical (to paraphrase ruthlessly).

Passage B shows how there are problems in the scientists beliefs about animal language (which seems to include what passage A discusses), and new studies are calling into question assumptions within those beliefs.

With that in hand, let's look at the answers:

(A) is unsupported/out of scope - passage B doesn't discuss humans being aware of other human's mental states.
(B) is out of scope - there's no discussion of credentials.
(C) is reversed. Passage B seems to support the idea that animals do not deceive. Plus, passage A doesn't discuss deception.
(D) is correct, though the emphasis on empiricism is off-putting. However, lines 56-65 all hinge on the effect of new research - empiricism - on assumptions.
(E) is unsupported by passage B. There's no discussion of evolution in passage B.

If you didn't grasp the focus of the question - B's opinion of something - then this was a tough question to answer.

[hyewonkim89]

(D) is correct, though the emphasis on empiricism is off-putting. However, lines 56-65 all hinge on the effect of new research - empiricism - on assumptions.

I'm having a really hard time seeing how lines 56-65 imply empiricism. Will someone please help me understand?

Thanks in advance.

[noah]

(D) is correct, though the emphasis on empiricism is off-putting. However, lines 56-65 all hinge on the effect of new research - empiricism - on assumptions.

I'm having a really hard time seeing how lines 56-65 imply empiricism. Will someone please help me understand?

Thanks in advance.

(D) can be reworded as "They make assumptions when they really should be doing scientific tests to figure out this issue."

The last paragraph is about how research (empirical research) contradicts the assumptions made by the Passage A folks.

That clear it up?

[hyewonkim89]

(D) is correct, though the emphasis on empiricism is off-putting. However, lines 56-65 all hinge on the effect of new research - empiricism - on assumptions.

I'm having a really hard time seeing how lines 56-65 imply empiricism. Will someone please help me understand?

Thanks in advance.

(D) can be reworded as "They make assumptions when they really should be doing scientific tests to figure out this issue."

The last paragraph is about how research (empirical research) contradicts the assumptions made by the Passage A folks.

That clear it up?

Yes, that makes it much easier for me to understand. Thanks for a quick reply Noah!

[sojisong]

I understand why D is the answer
but I don't get the reason C isn't.
You've stated that B doesn't think animals deceive-
i can't find where B says that. I rather thought B thinks animals can lie and the people such as the researchers in passage A think of deception as uniquely human.
Could you explain this part more?
Thanks in advance.

[noah]

I understand why D is the answer
but I don't get the reason C isn't.
You've stated that B doesn't think animals deceive-
i can't find where B says that. I rather thought B thinks animals can lie and the people such as the researchers in passage A think of deception as uniquely human.
Could you explain this part more?
Thanks in advance.

Line 36 establishes that lies require intention.

Lines 43-45 state that we generally think that only humans have conscious intention.

Later on, we have that intellectual move called out as circle, so perhaps you're correct that B doesn't suggest this.


But, answer (C) suggest that the author of Passage B think that animals do lie--we never read that.

[CarolineL560]

(D) can be reworded as "They make assumptions when they really should be doing scientific tests to figure out this issue."

The last paragraph is about how research (empirical research) contradicts the assumptions made by the Passage A folks.

That clear it up?

I got tripped up on this one because I thought Passage A does use empirical evidence to make its claims. Perhaps not as strongly or cautiously as B would prefer, but the two primate examples in Passage A are from a study/studies ("Research suggests..." on Line 17). This answer choice, as you translated it, is wagging a finger at passage A's researchers for not basing their claims on scientific tests. But... don't they?

Can someone please address this? I initially eliminated it because of that, eventually came back to it and chose it but only because I could not justify any others.

[NickS909]

(D) can be reworded as "They make assumptions when they really should be doing scientific tests to figure out this issue."

The last paragraph is about how research (empirical research) contradicts the assumptions made by the Passage A folks.

That clear it up?

I got tripped up on this one because I thought Passage A does use empirical evidence to make its claims. Perhaps not as strongly or cautiously as B would prefer, but the two primate examples in Passage A are from a study/studies ("Research suggests..." on Line 17). This answer choice, as you translated it, is wagging a finger at passage A's researchers for not basing their claims on scientific tests. But... don't they?

Can someone please address this? I initially eliminated it because of that, eventually came back to it and chose it but only because I could not justify any others.

I would also love an official explanation for this point. Line 17 "Research also suggests..." seems to me like 2 examples of empiricism being used explicitly. How can the answer then say the author of passage B would agree assumptions were made without empirical evidence?

[AnnT606]

Just adding my two cents here for whatever it's worth — I got this question wrong on the PT.

I'm thinking that D is most likely correct because of the sentence in the 3rd paragraph of Passage B that talks about current research calling into question the assumption that the difference between communication types is qualitative and not simply quantitive. In other words: they make assumptions about matters that should only be determined quantitively (=empirically), as D states.

Is that correct? I'm not sure I am really convinced by some of the arguments in the above posts.

[Misti Duvall]

Just adding my two cents here for whatever it's worth — I got this question wrong on the PT.

I'm thinking that D is most likely correct because of the sentence in the 3rd paragraph of Passage B that talks about current research calling into question the assumption that the difference between communication types is qualitative and not simply quantitive. In other words: they make assumptions about matters that should only be determined quantitively (=empirically), as D states.

Is that correct? I'm not sure I am really convinced by some of the arguments in the above posts.

I see where you're going, but I think the first sentence of that paragraph provides better support (i.e., the problem is that they're making assumptions instead of just conducting experiments). The line about qualitative v quantitative is about communication types, not about how the research is conducted.

Hope that helps.