PrepTest 134, Section 4, Question 19
Passage A  Evolutionary psychology has taught us to(499 more words not shown)
Passage A(246 more words not shown)
Passage B(261 more words not shown)
It can be inferred that(24 more words not shown)
- AMost of the(13 more words not shown)
- BAny action performed(16 more words not shown)
- CTo explain a(24 more words not shown)
- DEvolutionary psychology can(18 more words not shown)
- EMost early human(11 more words not shown)
Reading the passage
B says several interests can explain the same action, including caring about a child for the child's own sake. So I'd expect a problem with treating the evolutionary explanation as settled while other motives remain possible.
What we’re looking for
There are two checks here: the assumption must underlie an argument like A's, and B must regard it as mistaken. A statement B dislikes isn't enough if it goes beyond anything A needs to assume.
Working the answers
- A
The dispute concerns explanations of behavior, not the evolutionary origin of physical features. B doesn't challenge that claim about human anatomy.
- B
This is tempting because it resembles the hidden-gene-interest explanation B criticizes. But any action and necessarily turn it into a universal claim about every early human action. A proposes an explanation of altruism; that argument doesn't require this much broader assumption.
- CCorrect
This identifies the step B thinks is too quick: showing that a behavior could improve reproductive success and treating that as enough to explain it in evolutionary terms. B demands more before the explanation is decisive, because a different interest could account for the same action. That is the objection we anticipated.
- D
B itself describes evolutionary explanations involving animals with slowly maturing offspring. Nothing establishes an assumption that evolutionary psychology applies only to humans.
- E
B doesn't discuss how often behaviors that hinder reproduction were eliminated. This is a separate claim about evolutionary competition, not the disputed assumption behind the explanation of altruism.
More Author's Opinion questions
Learn the LSAT our way
Our platform drills Author's Opinion questions at your level and adjusts as you improve.