- Mon Mar 08, 2021 6:30 pm
#85090
Hi Jocelyn!
The conclusion of this argument is the first sentence: "Biologists are mistaken in thinking that the fossil record provides direct evidence of the course of human evolution." All of the other statements support this sentence and explain why the fossil record does not provide direct evidence of the course of human evolution. Notice also that the sentence is telling us that this claim by biologists is wrong. This is very similar to a common LSAT argument structure in which the author starts off with some variation of "Some people say..." and then argues the opposite of whatever "some people say." It's very common for an author's main conclusion to be the opposite of what some other individual's or group's argument is. Biologists think that the fossil record provides direct evidence of the course of human evolution. The author thinks that they are wrong and then provides evidence to support that they are wrong and that the fossil record does not, in fact, provide direct evidence of the course of human evolution. Thus, answer choice (D) is the correct answer.
Answer choice (B) is incorrect because it does not match that first sentence. Also, the argument does not state that "the claims made by evolutionary theorists cannot be objectively tested." As you noted, it says that fossils cannot be interpreted objectively, but this is not quite the same as saying that their claims cannot be objectively tested.
Answer choice (E) is a premise that supports the statement that fossils cannot be interpreted objectively and so cannot be the main conclusion of the argument. The main conclusion of an argument must only be supported by other statements, it cannot support any other statements.
Hope this helps!
Best,
Kelsey
