Because people like me will have to answer questions like this (no, I’m not making this up, it’s in my practice book):
Every adult male woolly monkey is larger than even the largest female woolly monkey. In colonies of woolly monkeys, any adult male will dominate any female.
If the statements above are true, which one of the following must on the basis of them be true of woolly monkeys?
A. Size is the primary determinant of relations of dominance among woolly monkeys.
B. Some large adolescent male woolly monkeys dominate some smaller females of the species.
C. If a male woolly monkey is larger than a female of the species, that male will dominate that female.
D. If a female woolly monkey dominates a male of the species, the dominated male monkey is not an adult.
E. An adult male woolly monkey can dominate a female of the spcies only if that female is also an adult.
You guys don’t really think I could answer that question dispassionately, do you?
I’d be more likely to write in an answer, F:
F. If the female monkeys gang up on the male monkeys, they will kick the male monkey’s asses, and teach them that female monkeys are vicious fucking fighters when provoked. All the monkeys will be happy and live in harmony after that, and when Big, Evil Male Monkeys try to dominate by sheer force of size, they will be brutally castrated and kicked out of the troop, where they will then be eaten by scavengers, making effective use of “natural” selection. It will be a great day for monkeys everywhere.
Think I could get into law school with that one?
No?
For the record, the answer is D. My initial knee-jerk answer was C, which shows just how many of my own cultural biases I’m carrying around.
Must… learn… to… be… logical….
