#18 - Must Be True

[reop6780]

The correct answer is C while I chose D.

C is mentioned at the end of passage B. It can be inferred that passage B supports quantitative difference between animal and human communication. However, I did not find supporting sentences for passage A to believe qualitative difference.

If I was convinced that the "assumption" in line 60 of passage B is taken by passage A, I could easily confirm passage A's position regarding qualitative difference.

(Or,,,) Was I supposed to take whole passage A and conclude that it talks about qualitative difference?

Then, answer C adds "or merely in a matter of degree." How am I supposed to know passage A supports qualitative difference in lieu of quantitative difference?



About the incorrect answer D,

I thought passage A would say NO to the statement clearly, and passage B would say YES answer D is expressed with "may." Passage B question researchers' conclusion in regard with absence of intent in animal communication.

What makes D incorrect?

[Adam Tyson]

I'll start with your second question first - what's wrong with answer D? The answer to that can be found at lines 10-11 of the passage, where author A allows that chimps may be an exception to his general thesis. It seems both authors would likely agree that chimp vocalizations may indicate an awareness of the mental states of others.

As to why answer C works, you could indeed look at the first passage as a whole and conclude that author A's main point is that animal vocalization is fundamentally different from human communication because animals cannot attribute mental states to others. That's the qualitative difference - it goes to the very nature of the communication. You could also look more narrowly at certain words used in that passage - look at lines 8-9, where the author sharply contrasts animal communication to human communication, or at lines 17-20, where he discusses the "marked contrast" between humans and animals.

Author B calls that thesis into question, suggesting that the differences may be merely quantitative (how much and with how much variation) rather than qualitative (being fundamentally different).

I'll say that I don't think C is a perfect answer - I think author B would likely say that it MAY be merely quantitative, and it would be a better answer if we knew that he would say it IS that. Still, we are not in the business of picking perfect answers on this test - we are looking instead for the best answer among the ones we were given, and C wins that test easily.

Keep up the good work!

[reop6780]

Thank you, Adam, for the detailed explanation!

[uncleschaeflit]

I don't see why (a) doesn't work.
Passage A: "the perception of another's mental state is perhaps the most common vocalization stimulus"
Passage B: "calls into question ... the accompanying assumption that animals respond mechanically to stimuli, whereas humans speak w/ conscious understanding and intent."

[Adam Tyson]

Both authors agree that humans have the ability to perceive the mental states of other humans, uncleschaeflit. Author B is not questioning whether humans can do that, but whether non-human animals cannot. In other words, author B is saying that humans can do it, but maybe animals can, too. And even if you were to interpret that last line in B as indicating that author B isn't entirely sure that's true of humans, that doesn't go far enough to support a claim that the author would disagree with that claim. The best you could say is that they might say "maybe not." A good answer to a Point at Issue question like this one will have clear evidence that one of the two parties would say "yes, that is true," and equally clear evidence that the other would say "no, that's false."