Question #1076

Reversed logic

Started by Gabriel · started 2020-12-28 17:10 · last activity 2021-01-05 13:35 · 1 reply

Hello, I understand the answer to this question intuitively, but I am confused that the answer also seems to be using the converse of the initial premise. If more genetic similarity (MGS) means more recent divergence from ancestors (MRDA), that is MGS --> MRDA, can we say, that more recent divergence from ancestors implies that there is greater genetic similarity, MRDA --> MGS? Logically, we can't, right? So I'm confused why this is essentially what the answer is asking us to conclude...

Replies

  1. shunhe · 2021-01-05 13:35

    Hi @Gabriel, Thanks for the question! So this isn’t really a conditional argument, it’s a correlational argument. And correlation cuts both ways, so we can make that kind of move. If more X means more Y, then the presence of more Y generally means there was more X as well. Hope this helps! Feel free to ask any other questions that you might have.

Sign in to reply.