Zoologist: Every domesticated large mammal species now in existence was domesticated thousands of years ago. Since th...

MichelleRod on August 16, 2018

Thanks for your question @EmilyMarieMenendez

The question stem reads "The zoologist's argument requires the assumption that."

In the video lesson, we learned that "requires" indicates a necessary assumption. A necessary assumption is defined as follows: if the statement is false,then the conclusion would be false.

Answer choice B reads "it is not much easier today to domesticate wild large mammal species than it was in the past."

What if that statement were false? That would mean it IS much easier to domesticate those types of animals today. If that were true, then the fact that such animals were not domesticated long ago would be irrelevant to whether they can be domesticated today. The conclusion would fall apart.

JosephRocco on February 29, 2024

Hi Emily, could you please explain what makes "D" incorrect for this question? I chose the correct answer because it just made more intuitive sense. However, knowing why an answer is incorrect is also very beneficial.

Answer Choice D reads: "the easier it is to domesticate a wild large mammal species, the more worthwhile it is to do so." Is "D" wrong because it's an illegal negation and out of scope? We are interested in what is difficult, not easier? And also, when we negate this, it would seem to suggest that the common sense flows with the author's logic, not against it, thereby making his/her argument not fall apart. Am I correct to think this?

Emil-Kunkin on March 2, 2024

D is wrong because the author doesn't have to believe it. The author thinks that there are two possible reasons why currently undomesticated large mammals have not been domesticated yet. We don't need to think that there is a relationship between those factors for the argument to make sense.