Logic Breakdown

Passage Summary: Lions and tigers have almost the same bones but hunt differently, so the biologist says you can't tell if a dinosaur hunted in a pack just by looking at its bones.

Conclusion: It is unreasonable for paleontologists to conclude that extinct predators hunted in packs based only on their skeletal structure.

Reasoning: Even though lions and tigers have nearly identical skeletons, their hunting behaviors are completely different, with one being solitary and the other hunting in groups.

Analysis: The biologist uses a counterexample (lions vs. tigers) to show that skeletal similarity doesn't guarantee behavioral similarity. To make this conclusion 'properly drawn,' we need an assumption that bridges the gap between modern cats and extinct dinosaurs. Look for an answer that guarantees that if skeletal anatomy isn't a reliable indicator of behavior in some known cases, it cannot be used as a reliable basis for inference in unknown cases like dinosaurs.

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20.

The conclusion is properly drawn if which one of the following is assumed?

Correct Answer
C
C gives the needed bridge: if anatomy alone is ever an inadequate basis for inferring behavior, then it’s never reasonable to infer pack hunting from anatomy alone. With the lion/tiger case showing at least one inadequacy, the conclusion follows.
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