Self-study
Researcher: Conclusion Several chemical compounds found in soybeans are effective agents for cancer prevention in humans. █████ ███████ ███████████ ███ █████████████ █████ ████ █████ ██ █████ ██████ ███ ███ ██████████ ████████████ ██ █████████ ██ ████ ███ ██████ ███████ ████ ██ ████████ ███ ██████ ███████████ ████ ████ █████ ██ ███████ ███ ██████████ ██ █████████ ███ ████████ ██ █████ ██ ███████ ███████ █████ ██ ███████ ████████████ ███ ████ ███████████ ██████████ ███ ████ ████ ██████████ ████████
Summarize Argument: Phenomenon-Hypothesis
A Researcher hypothesizes that several chemical compounds, particularly isoflavones, and phytosterols, found in soybeans effectively protect humans from cancer. This is because isoflavones inhibit estrogen production, which is linked to certain cancers.
Notable Assumptions
The Researcher assumes that no other factors will outweigh the anti-cancer impacts of isoflavones and phytosterols.
The Researcher also assumes that the animal studies used to introduce a premise are applicable to humans.
24.
Each of the following, if █████ █████ ██████ ███ ███████ █████ ██ ███ ██████████ ███ ███ █████ ████ ███████ ████████ █████████ ██ ████████ ███ █████████ ██████ ███ █████ ██████ ██████████ ███████
a
The soybean derivatives ████ ██ ████ ███████ ███ ███ ████████ ██ ███████████ ██████████ ██████████ ███ ███ ███ ███ ██████ █████████ ██ ██████████
This does not impact the reasoning of the argument at all. The fact that soybean derivatives used in most of the studies have these qualities is wholly irrelevant.
b
While phytosterols, which █████ ██ ████ ██████████████ ██ █████████ ████ ████ █████ ██ ████████ ███████████ ██████████ ██ ███ █████ ███ ████████ ████████ ████ ████ ████████ ██ ███ █████ ██████ ██ ██████ ██████████████ ██ ███████
This directly weakens the argument because it weakens the Researcher’s second premise. This casts doubt on the argument that these compounds are effective anticancer agents.
c
A study of ██████ ████ ████ ██████ ██ █████ ███████████ ██████ ██ ███████████ █████████ ██ ███████████ ██████ █████ █████████ ██ █ ████████████ █████
This challenges the link between eating soybeans and lowering cholesterol levels, thereby reducing cancer risk.
d
Consumption of soybean ████████ █████ █████ █████ ███████████ ██ ████████ ███ █ █████ ██ ██████ █████ █████ ██████ ██ ███████ ██ ████████ ██████ ████ ██████ ████████ ██████ █████ ███████████ ██████ ██ █████ ████ ███████
This weakens the argument because it calls out one of the Researcher’s key assumptions: that the animal study she relied on was applicable to humans.
e
Preliminary studies have ███ █████ ███████████ ██ ████ █ ███████████ ██████ ██ ████████ ██████ ██ ███████
If this is true, it weakens the reasoning between the first premise and the main conclusion. If isoflavones do not reduce estrogen levels in humans as they do in animals, the argument for their role in cancer prevention is weakened.