Self-study
Carl: Researchers who perform operations on animals for experimental purposes are legally required to complete detailed pain protocols indicating whether the animals will be at risk of pain and, if so, what steps will be taken to minimize or alleviate it. ███ ████ █████ ██████ ███████ ███████████ ████ █████████ ███ █████ █████████ ██ █████████ ████ ██ █████████ █████ █████ ██████ ██ ████ ████ ██ ██ █████ ████████ █████ █████ ██ ████ █████████ ███ █████ ██████ ████
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Summarize Argument
Debbie argues that pain protocols, which are used when operating on animals, are unnecessary for humans. This is because, unlike animals, humans can be told how much pain to expect and simply choose whether or not to undergo the surgery.
Notable Assumptions
Debbie assumes that humans can always choose whether or not to undergo a surgery, which seems to neglect essential surgeries or surgeries on people who can’t make choices for themselves. Debbie also assumes that pain protocols don't offer a significant benefit even when someone can choose whether to undergo a surgery.
12.
Which one of the following, ██ █████ ████ █████████ ███████ ███ ████████ ████ ██ ██████ ██ ████████ ██ ██████ █████████
a
Not all operations ████ ███ █████████ ██ █████ ██████ ███ ████████
Since Debbie is arguing about pain protocols, on the basis that some operations are painful, we don’t care about operations that aren’t painful. Even if we did, this doesn't give us reason to doubt Debbie's argument.
b
Some experimentation that ██ ███ ████ ██ ███████ ████ ███ ██ ████ ██ ████
Debbie doesn’t argue about whether or not experimentation should be done on animals. Debbie's argument is just about humans not needing pain protocols, so this is irrelevant.
c
Preparing pain protocols ██ ███ █ ██████████████ ██ ██████ ██████████
Debbie doesn’t claim pain protocols are too expensive and time-consuming to be worth the trouble, she claims that they're simply unnecessary. However easy they may be to prepare, that doesn't weaken Debbie's argument.
d
Some surgical operations █████████ ██ ███████ ███ ████████
Infants can’t understand a doctor's explanation and decide whether or not to undergo a surgery. This weakens Debbie’s claim that pain protocols are unnecessary for humans by undermining her support, the argument of choice.
e
Unalleviated pain after ██ █████████ █████ ██ █████ ███ ███████ ████████
So there are benefits to minimizing post-operational pain. But that still doesn't tell us whether pain protocols are necessary for humans, especially since we don't know if they address post-operational pain at all.