Sample Assignment

[ Note: you do not need to quote the text that you have been asked to answer on. It is helpful to quote the question that you have been asked, although it is not required. ]

Anaximander, fragment # 14, R, p. 12

"He also declares that in the beginning humans were born from other kinds of animals, since other animals quickly manage on their own, and humans alone require lengthy nursing. For this reason, in the beginning they would not have been preserved if they had been like this."

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Q: Why does Anaximander believe that humans were born from other kinds of animals?

Anaximander believes that the first humans were born from other kinds of animals because the first humans, like all humans, were once human babies, and because human babies cannot feed themselves or protect themselves. Human babies need to be nursed for many years in order to grow into human adults. The first humans, when they were babies, could not be nursed by adult humans, because then they would not be the first humans. So it must be the case that the first humans, when they were babies, were given birth to, and nursed, by other kinds of animals.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------[ There is no need to try to put this interpretation into simple logical form. But if you did, it might look like this (it is usually possible to add further premises). ]

1. Humans exist.

2. All humans were once human babies.

1. Human babies cannot survive without being nursed by others.

4. Therefore, the first humans, when they were babies, were nursed by others. 

5. The only others who could nurse the first human babies were other kinds of animals.

6. Therefore, the first humans, when they were babies, were nursed by other kinds of animals.

6. Animals only nurse those to whom they give birth.

--> The first humans were given birth to by other kinds of animals.