Self-study
Scientist: Support While studying centuries-old Antarctic ice deposits, I found that several years of relatively severe atmospheric pollution in the 1500s coincided with a period of relatively high global temperatures. ██ ██ ██ █████ ██ ████ ████ ████ ███████████ █████████ ███ █████ ██████ ████████████ ██ █████
Summarize Argument
The scientist concludes that atmospheric pollution caused global temperatures to rise in the 1500s. She supports this by saying that she found several years of heavy pollution in the 1500s that coincided with a period of high global temperatures.
Identify and Describe Flaw
This is the cookie-cutter flaw of assuming that correlation proves causation. The scientist points out a correlation between atmospheric pollution and high global temperatures in the 1500s and then concludes that the pollution caused the high temperatures. She ignores any other possible explanation for the high temperatures.
4.
The reasoning in the scientist's ████████ ██ ████ ██████████ ██ █████████ ██ ███ ███████ ████ ███ ████████
a
presumes, without providing ██████████████ ████ █ ████ ██ ██████ ████████████ ██ ███████
The scientist never makes this assumption. She concludes that pollution caused the rise in global temperatures, but she doesn’t assume that the rise in temperatures is harmful.
b
draws a general ██████████ █████ ██ █ ██████ ████ ██ ██████ ██ ██ ████████████████
Like (C), the scientist doesn’t draw a general conclusion. She draws the specific conclusion that “in this case” pollution caused high global temperatures.
c
inappropriately generalizes from █████ █████ █ ████████ ██████ ██ ████ ██ █ █████████ █████
Like (B), the scientist doesn’t draw an inappropriately general conclusion. She draws a specific conclusion about a period of time in the 1500s based on facts about that same specific period of time.
d
takes for granted ████ ███ ██████ ████ ███ █████████ ████ ███ ████████
This doesn’t describe why the scientist’s reasoning is vulnerable to criticism. She presents her data in her premises and we have no reason to believe that her methods were unreliable.
e
infers, merely from █ █████ ████ ███ █████████ ███ ███████████ ████ ███ ██████████ ██████ ███ █████
The scientist infers that atmospheric pollution caused a rise in global temperatures in the 1500s merely from a claim that atmospheric pollution and high global temperatures both occurred during that time.