Self-study
Doctor: Support While a few alternative medicines have dangerous side effects, some, such as many herbs, have been proven safe to consume. █████ ██████ █████ ██ ██████ ████ ████████ ██ █████████ ███████ █████████ ██ █████ █████ ██ ████████ ███ ███████ █████████ ██████ ██████ ██ ███████ ██ █████████ █████ █████ █████ ████████ ████ ███ ██ ███████ ███ █████ ██ ███████ ██ ███ ███ ██ █████ █████████
Summarize Argument
The doctor concludes that advocates of alternative medicine should always be allowed to prescribe certain herbs as remedies for serious illnesses. This is based on the claim that these herbs cause no harm and have the possibility of helping patients.
Notable Assumptions
The doctor assumes that the fact that these herbs are not harmful--i.e., not harmful in themselves--and may be beneficial, is sufficient to allow them to be prescribed. This assumes there won't be indirect harm resulting from prescribing these medicines. It's possible these herbs, while harmless on their own, could interact badly with another drug a patient is taking, or divert patients away from using proven treatments.
5.
Which one of the following, ██ █████ ████ █████████ ███████ ███ ████████ █████████
a
Many practitioners and ████████ ███████ ████ █████████ ████████████ █████████ ██ █████ ██ ██████ █████████
This weakens the doctor's argument. Even if the herbs themselves don't directly harm patients, in many cases, they take the place of remedies proven to be effective. This undermines the doctor's claim that patients will not be harmed by the prescription of these remedies.
b
Many herbal remedies ███ ████████ ████ ██████ ██ ██████ █████████████ ████ ██ ████ █████ █████████████ ██ █████████
This doesn't weaken the argument. The doctor has already told us that there isn't much evidence for the effectiveness of these remedies. The argument is based on the lack of harm and the possibility of benefit from these herbs, not on whether or not they are marketed truthfully.
c
Some patients may ████ ████████ █████████ ██ ███████ █████████ ████ ████ ████ █████████ ██ █████ █████████
This is too vague to weaken the argument. We don't know how many \"some\" patients are, or whether the medicines discussed here are even herbal medicines. This statement looks like it applies to medicines in general. Even if some patients are allergic to herbal medicines, this isn't an argument against allowing the prescription of such remedies. Such patients could simply avoid the herbal medicines in favor of more conventional options .
d
The vast majority ██ █████████ ██ ███████████ █████████ ███ ██████ ██ ████ ██ ███ ██████ ██████ ██ ██ █ ██████ ███ █████ █████████ ███████
Irrelevant. The doctor's conclusion is based on the lack of harm and possibility of benefit from these medicines, not on the motives of people who provide them.
e
Any pain relief ██ █████ ████████ ██ ████ █████ ████ ████ ██████ ██ ██████ ████████ ████ █████████ ██████ ██ ███ ███████ ██████ ████ ████ ███ ███████████ ███████████
This doesn't weaken the argument. The doctor's argument is about the effects of these herbs, not their biochemical properties. She just says that these herbs don't cause harm and may help. Even if they are a placebo, they can still provide relief.