PrepTest 123, Section 3, Question 9

By Brandon Beaver | Published October 29, 2024

Type: Necessary Assumption

Difficulty:

Explanations

Absence of evidence does not mean evidence of absence. Lacking evidence does not mean that thing doesn’t exist or occur.
If Johnny commits a crime, did he do it? Yes, of course. If Johnny left no evidence, did he still do it? Yes.
It’s a , so we need an answer choice the author must agree with in order to conclude the Tasmanian tiger is extinct.
Let’s see.
A
The naturalist doesn’t need to assume how the sheep farmers drove the tigers to extinction.
B
This would hurt the argument by explaining why there might be an absence of evidence.
C
Every naturalist? No, that goes too far. Maybe that at least some people have looked for evidence is an assumption, but not every naturalist.
D
Yes. In order to claim the tiger is extinct, the author would have to agree that the tiger didn’t migrate beyond its natural habitat. In fact, the author would have to agree that there aren’t any tigers in any habitat anywhere. Otherwise, how could we claim they’re extinct?
E
They could be. The author would just say that they were wrong, despite their experience.

Passage

Naturalist: The recent claims that the Tasmanian tiger is not extinct are false. The Tasmanian tiger's natural habitat was taken over by sheep farming decades ago, resulting in the animal's systematic elimination from the area. Since then naturalists working in the region have discovered no hard evidence of its survival, such as carcasses or tracks. In spite of alleged sightings of the animal, the Tasmanian tiger no longer exists.

Question 9

Which one of the following is an assumption on which the naturalist's argument depends?
Sheep farming drove the last Tasmanian tigers to starvation by chasing them from their natural habitat.
Some scavengers in Tasmania are capable of destroying tiger carcasses without a trace.
Every naturalist working in the Tasmanian tiger's natural habitat has looked systematically for evidence of the tiger's survival.
The Tasmanian tiger did not move and adapt to a different region in response to the loss of habitat.
Those who have reported sightings of the Tasmanian tiger are not experienced naturalists.