Self-study
Herbalist: Support Many herbal medicines work best when they have a chance to influence the body gently over several months. ████████ ████ ██ █████ ██████ █████████ ████ █████ ████ ███████ ████ █████ █████ ███ ████ ████ ████████ ██████████ ██ █████ ████ ██████ ███ ███ ██████ █████████ █████ ██████ ████████████ ████ █████ █████ ████ ███ █ ███ ██ ████ ██ ████ ███ ████ █ ██████ ██ ███████████
Summary
Some people taking daily medicinal herbs should take breaks from the herb, because some medicinal herbs are toxic when taken daily long-term.
Notable Assumptions
There are two groups that are key to the conclusion: herbs that risk toxicity when taken long-term, and people taking herbs that need to be taken daily. Do these two groups overlap? We have no idea. This is a necessary assumption, because if the groups don’t overlap, then the conclusion can’t follow from the support.
18.
Which one of the following ██ ██ ██████████ ████████ ██ ███ ███████████ █████████
a
At least some ██████ ███ ███ ██████ █████████ █████ ███ ████ ███ ███████ ████ ██████ ███ ███ █████████ ██ ████ ████ ████████
This matches our prediction, and it is necessary. If (A) is not true, and there is no overlap between those two groups, then there’s no reason to recommend breaks to people taking daily herbal medicine.
b
At least some ██████ █████████ ████ ████ ████ ██ █████████ █████ ███████ ███████ ██ ███ ████████████ █████ █████ █████ ████ ████ ██ ███ ████ ████
We are looking at daily-dose herbs, and (B) does not specify the dose. Also, the argument is trying to recommend skipping doses; if anything, (B) attempts to weaken that. It doesn’t weaken it either, because we don’t know if the “some” in (B) overlaps with any of the other groups discussed.
c
Some herbal medicines ████ █████ ████ ███████ ████ █████ ███ ███████ ███████ ████ ██ ███ █████ ████ ██ ████████████ ███████ ███ █ ███ ██ ███ ██ ████ ███ ████ █ ██████ ██ ███████████
We don’t know if the “some” in (C) overlaps with any of our other groups. Also, more broadly, (C) is a potential downfall of the argument’s recommendation, so it is definitely not necessary.
d
Anyone who uses ██████ █████████ ██████ ████ █████ █████████ █ ██████ ██ █████████ ███ ████ ██████ ████ ███████ ██████ ██ ██████
It is not necessary that this apply to everyone taking herbal medicine. The argument only says, “Many herbal medicines work best when they have a chance...” We don’t need to make this stronger.
e
One should occasionally ████ █████ █████ ████ ██ ██ ██████ ████████ ███ █ ███ ██ ███ ████ ██ █████ ██ ████ ██████ ██ █████████ █████ ████ ███████ ████ ███████ ██████ ██ ████
We don’t need reduction of toxicity to be a requirement for skipping an herbal dose. If there are other reasons to skip a dose, that doesn’t hurt the argument.