#20 - In some ill-considered popularizations of interesting current research, it is argued that

[Administrator]

Complete Question Explanation

Parallel Reasoning. The correct answer choice is (C).

Answer choice (A):

Answer choice (B):

Answer choice (C): This is the correct answer choice.

Answer choice (D):

Answer choice (E):

This explanation is still in progress. Please post any questions below!

[joliekwok8@gmail.com]

Hi,

Could somebody explain this question? I didn't quite follow the argument so I was searching for two things in the answer choices: 1) some miracle and 2) something that is expected to be used but isn't but even based off of this i'm not sure why C would be correct instead of A.

Thanks!

[Luke Haqq]

Hi joliekwok8!

The stimulus makes a comparison between two examples, both of which involve an animal supposedly having the ability to do X but never actually doing X. It's also worth adding that the first example is more mental (a capacity for language), and the second example is about a physical appendage (animals with wings adequate for flight that never thought to fly).

A similar form is reflected in answer choice (C): "Arguing that the human brain has telekinetic powers that no humans have ever exercised is rather like arguing that some insect has legs but never uses them to walk." In more generic form, this can be written as "Saying Entity A has the capacity to do X but never does so is like saying Entity B has an appendage that does Y but it never uses it to do so." This is the same generic form of reasoning as employed by the stimulus. The reasoning also starts with a mental example (telekinesis), with the second example being about a physical appendage (insects with legs but never using them to walk).

Answer choice (A) doesn't follow this same form. At the very least, it doesn't clearly involve the same move from a mental example to one about a physical appendage--there's no specific appendage mentioned that isn't being used if the lion doesn't eat meat.