Taylor argues that claims about human superiority are flawed because they are “standpoint biased.”Is this argument convincing? Why or why not? Are there any human traits that might objectively justify a different moral value/status for humans — or is Taylor right that we’re simply favoring ourselves without justification?⚠️ Reminder: This Learning Evaluation is a CLOSED-BOOK, CLOSED-NOTE, CLOSED-INTERNET.The use of any unauthorized aid is strictly prohibited. This includes all generative AI tools (ChatGPT, Gemini, Claude, etc.), AI-enhanced writing/editing tools, or any external person/resource.Like other forms of plagiarism, using AI tools or other unauthorized aid is academic misrepresentation or fraud—because you are submitting work generated by someone or something else as your own (see Syllabus).

You are an emergency room physician. Marcus, a 7-year-old boy, has just presented in the ER complaining that his chest hurts, his heart feels funny, and his ankles and knees hurt. His mother says that he has had a fever for the past 24 hours. Upon physical examination, you notice that his ankles and knees are red and swollen, and examination with a stethoscope reveals unusual palpitations (his heart is fluttering). You immediately order an EKG to check for signs of a heart attack, a CBC blood draw to check for signs of infection, a throat culture to check for the presence of Streptococcus, an X-ray of his legs to check for bone fractures or lesions, and a urine sample to check for bacterial contamination.Which of the following is one of the hypotheses you have put forth?

On June 7th, it was reported by the BBC that an 18-year old crocodile housed in a Costa Rican reptile park had laid an egg back in 2018. The egg housed a fully developed fetus, however, did not hatch and was stillborn. This was interesting because the crocodile, obtained at 2 years of age, had been housed alone her entire life. Genetic testing indicated that the fetus was 99.9% genetically similar to the mother crocodile. What property of life best describes this occurrence?

You are an emergency room physician. Marcus, a 7-year-old boy, has just presented in the ER complaining that his chest hurts, his heart feels funny, and his ankles and knees hurt. His mother says that he has had a fever for the past 24 hours. Upon physical examination, you notice that his ankles and knees are red and swollen, and examination with a stethoscope reveals unusual palpitations (his heart is fluttering). You immediately order an EKG to check for signs of a heart attack, a CBC blood draw to check for signs of infection, a throat culture to check for the presence of Streptococcus, an X-ray of his legs to check for bone fractures or lesions, and a urine sample to check for bacterial contamination.A colleague of yours approaches you and says, “I have a theory: Perhaps this boy is suffering from an acute case of gout, the build-up of uric acid—a by-product of the break-down of DNA—in the joints. This causes painful joint swelling, like we see here.” Being a Bio 1406/8 graduate, you are offended by his statement because

The longest running field-research on chimpanzees was started in 1960 by Dr. Jane Goodall. She set out to study primate behavior under Louis Leakey, a paleoanthropologist, who hoped that better understanding chimpanzee behavior would provide insight into early hominid behavior. Goodall observed a number of behaviors previously undocumented and unknown to science. She observed chimpanzees constructing tools to aid in “fishing” termites out of mounds. She even observed individuals refining their twigs by removing leaves. Previously, the use and construction of tools had been a defining characteristic of humans. Goodall also first documented the consumption of meat by chimpanzees who had previously been thought to be herbivores. In 1977, Goodall established the Jane Goodall Institute which continues her field study work as well as develop conservation plans utilizing technologies such as geospatial mapping and machine learning.What form of logical thinking did Jane Goodall use in her field research?

You are an emergency room physician. Marcus, a 7-year-old boy, has just presented in the ER complaining that his chest hurts, his heart feels funny, and his ankles and knees hurt. His mother says that he has had a fever for the past 24 hours. Upon physical examination, you notice that his ankles and knees are red and swollen, and examination with a stethoscope reveals unusual palpitations (his heart is fluttering). You immediately order an EKG to check for signs of a heart-attack, a CBC blood draw to check for signs of infection, a throat culture to check for presence of Streptococcus, an X-ray of his legs to check for bone fractures or lesions, and a urine sample to check for bacterial contamination.You decide to go ahead and treat him with a broad-scale antibiotic, right there in the emergency room to get things started. You decide this prior to getting back any test results. Which hypothesis might you be testing?

All Jane’s life, she has been plagued with canker sores. There is no definitive cause or treatment that has been medically proven to work, although they are thought to be an autoimmune disorder triggered by some environmental cue. In fact, every individual appears to have his or her own unique trigger(s) for canker sores. Jane has always wondered why she gets canker sores. Over the years, Jane has narrowed her own possible causes down to a few: emotional stress, allergies to walnuts and pineapple, and exposure to sodium lauryl sulfate (SLS)—a common foaming agent in toothpaste. To test the toothpaste idea, she started using a new brand of toothpaste that does not contain SLS. Using the new toothpaste, she only had one sore every 2-3 months, compared to the 2 a month she was getting before.Jane is using the scientific method to figure out a cure for her canker sores. What question did she pose?

In 1956, researcher Benjamin Bloom and an appointed committee designed a classification system for assessment (e.g., exam) items. The system was based on the skills required to correctly answer any item. The pyramid below indicates the latest levels of Bloom’s Taxonomy from easiest at the bottom to hardest at the top:At the bottom level, “Remember”, students simply have to regurgitate from memory, words or definitions. “Understand” implies that a certain level of conceptual understanding is required to answer the question, but the skills necessary are rather simplistic. Items from “Apply” to “Create” require critical thinking skills as well as content knowledge and are much more challenging to students. Other researchers have shown that students often (in fact, almost always) tailor their learning and studying efforts to only cover what is on the exam. Therefore, it follows that exams requiring thinking skills and content knowledge, rather than just rote memorization, would encourage students to master deeper understanding of the material in preparation for the exams. To test this, researchers set up two sections of an introductory biology course. One section took all exams written solely at the knowledge level (memorization only) and the other section took all exams written entirely at higher levels of Bloom’s Taxonomy. At the end of the semester, both sections took a common final exam assessing their content knowledge as well as their reasoning skills. Results are shown in the table below:     Treatment * indicates a p-value < .05    Low-level Exams High-level Exams  Average Final Exam Percentage  61.7% 67.5% *  Average performance on low-level questions on the Final Exam (those requiring only memorization) 57.9% 57.1%    Average performance on high-level questions on the Final Exam (those requiring both content and skills) 39.6% 44.0% *  What hypothesis were researchers testing in this experiment?

The longest running field-research on chimpanzees was started in 1960 by Dr. Jane Goodall. She set out to study primate behavior under Louis Leakey, a paleoanthropologist, who hoped that better understanding chimpanzee behavior would provide insight into early hominid behavior. Goodall observed a number of behaviors previously undocumented and unknown to science. She observed chimpanzees constructing tools to aid in “fishing” termites out of mounds. She even observed individuals refining their twigs by removing leaves. Previously, the use and construction of tools had been a defining characteristic of humans. Goodall also first documented the consumption of meat by chimpanzees who had previously been thought to be herbivores. In 1977, Goodall established the Jane Goodall Institute which continues her field study work as well as develop conservation plans utilizing technologies such as geospatial mapping and machine learning.What type of science did Jane Goodall practice in her field research?

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