Critical Reasoning

The spacing of the four holes on a fragment of a bone flute excavated at a Neanderthal campsite is just what is required to play the third through sixth notes of the diatonic scale-the seven-note musical scale used in much of Western music since the Renaissance. Musicologists therefore hypothesize that the diatonic musical scale was developed and used thousands of years before it was adopted by Western musicians.

Which of the following, if true, most strongly supports the hypothesis?

(A) Bone flutes were probably the only musical instrument made by Neanderthals.
(B) No musical instrument that is known to have used a diatonic scale is of an earlier date than the flute found at the Neanderthal campsite.
(C) The flute was made from a cave-bear bone and the campsite at which the flute fragment was excavated was in a cave that also contained skeletal remains of cave bears.
(D) Flutes are the simplest wind instrument that can be constructed to allow playing a diatonic scale.
(E) The cave-bear leg bone used to make the Neanderthal flute would have been long enough to make a flute capable of playing a complete diatonic scale.

I was down to Option C and Option E, but I choose C, which is wrong. Can we discuss what went wrong with my reasoning.

richachampion wrote:The spacing of the four holes on a fragment of a bone flute excavated at a Neanderthal campsite is just what is required to play the third through sixth notes of the diatonic scale-the seven-note musical scale used in much of Western music since the Renaissance. Musicologists therefore hypothesize that the diatonic musical scale was developed and used thousands of years before it was adopted by Western musicians.

Which of the following, if true, most strongly supports the hypothesis?

(A) Bone flutes were probably the only musical instrument made by Neanderthals.
(B) No musical instrument that is known to have used a diatonic scale is of an earlier date than the flute found at the Neanderthal campsite.
(C) The flute was made from a cave-bear bone and the campsite at which the flute fragment was excavated was in a cave that also contained skeletal remains of cave bears.
(D) Flutes are the simplest wind instrument that can be constructed to allow playing a diatonic scale.
(E) The cave-bear leg bone used to make the Neanderthal flute would have been long enough to make a flute capable of playing a complete diatonic scale.

Virtually all strengthen/weaken/assumption passages LINK one idea to another:
A causes B.
If A happens, B will happen.
What is true for A must also be true for B.
A is sufficient to prove B.
Without A, there can't be B.
Since A and B have been observed together, there must be a connection between A and B.

In each case, the assumption is essentially the same:
A is LINKED to B.

The trick is to identify the LINK that the argument is trying to establish.
The passage above links the BONE FRAGMENT to the DIATONIC SCALE.
If this link is not valid -- if the bone fragment was NOT used to play the diatonic scale -- then the argument cannot conclude that the diatonic scale was developed and used thousands of years before it was adopted by Western musicians.

To support the conclusion, the correct answer will provide NEW INFORMATION that strengthens the link between the bone fragment and the diatonic scale.
Answer choice E:
The cave-bear LEG BONE used to make the Neanderthal flute would have been long enough to make a flute capable of playing a complete DIATONIC SCALE.
This NEW INFORMATION clearly strengthens the LINK between the BONE FRAGMENT and the DIATONIC SCALE.

The correct answer is E.

C: The flute was made from a cave-bear bone and the campsite at which the flute fragment was excavated was in a cave that also contained skeletal remains of cave bears.
This option does not strengthen the link between the bone fragment and the diatonic scale.
Eliminate C.