Self-study
Armstrong: For the treatment of a particular disease, Dr. ████████ ██████ ███ █████ ███████████ ███████████ ██████ ████ ███ ███████████████ ████ ████ ███████ ██████████ ███ ████ ██ ██ ███ █████████████ █████ ██ ██ ████ ██ ███████ █ ████ ██ ███████████ ████████████ █████ ██ ██████ ███ ███ ███████████ ███████████ ██ ████████ ███ ████████
Summarize Argument: Counter-Position
The author concludes that we should not use nutritional supplements in treating the disease. This is based on the fact that Dr Sullivan, who argues in favor of using nutritional supplements to treat the disease, has a personal interest in making that argument, because he’s paid to endorse a line of nutritional supplements.
Identify and Describe Flaw
The author inappropriately attacks the source rather than the merits. Rather than presenting reasons that the nutritional supplement should not be used to treat the disease, the author simply attacks Dr. Sullivan’s motivations in encouraging others to use nutritional supplements. But his self-interest isn’t relevant to whether nutritional supplements are a good idea for treating the disease.
15.
Armstrong's argument is flawed in ████ ██
a
relies on two █████████ ████████ ██ ███ ████ ████████████ ██ ████ █ ██████████
The word “supplement” means the same thing throughout. It’s a dietary addition that one takes for nutrition.
b
relies solely on ██ ██████ ██ ██ █████████ █████ ███████████████ ██████ ███ ███████████ ██ █████ ███ ███████
The author’s argument does not rely on an authority. The author never says, “X says we shouldn’t use nutritional supplements, so that’s why we shouldn’t use them.” The author criticizes the source of a claim, but that’s not a reliance on authority.
c
appeals to people's ████████ █████████ ███ █████████ ██ ███████ ██████ ████ ██ ███ ████████ ██ ███ ███ ██████████ ██ █████████
The author doesn’t appeal to emotions. The author simply points out the self-interest of Dr. Sullivan. There’s no indication that this is supposed to lead to an emotional reaction.
d
criticizes Dr. Sullivan's ███████ ███ ███████ █ ████████ ██████ ████ ██████████ ███ ████████ ██████
The author criticizes Dr. Sullivan’s motives (self-interested due to endorsement of nutritional supplements). But the author doesn’t address why nutritional supplements shouldn’t be used in treating the disease.
e
fails to justify ███ ███████████ ████ ███████████ ███████████ ██████ ██ ████ ██ ███████████ ████ █████ ██████████
The author doesn’t assume that nutritional supplements can’t be used in connection with other treatments. The reasoning isn’t, “We should use other treatments, so we can’t use nutritional supplements.”