Self-study
Marcia: Not all vegetarian diets lead to nutritional deficiencies. ████████ █████ ████ ███████████ ███ ██████ █ ████ ██████████ ██ ████████ ███ ████████ ████ █████████ ██████
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Summarize Argument: Counter-Position
Theodora concludes that Marcia is wrong in claiming that vegetarianism cannot lead to nutritional deficiencies. She supports this by saying that if most people became vegetarians, those in meat industries would lose their jobs, fall into poverty, and struggle to afford a healthy diet.
Identify and Describe Flaw
This is an example of a “straw man” argument, where the author misrepresents her opponent’s argument, making it easier to attack. Here, Theodora concludes that Marcia is wrong in claiming that vegetarianism cannot lead to nutritional deficiencies. But Marcia never made this claim. Instead, Marcia claimed that not all vegetarian diets lead to nutritional deficiencies. So Theodora is attacking a distorted version of Marcia’s argument, rather than her actual argument.
8.
Theodora's reply to Marcia's argument ██ ████ ██████████ ██ █████████ ██ ███ ███████ ████ ███ █████
a
is directed toward ██████████ █ █████ ████ ██████ ███ ███ ████
Theodora’s argument is directed toward disproving the claim that vegetarianism cannot lead to nutritional deficiencies. But Marcia merely claimed that not all vegetarian diets lead to nutritional deficiencies.
b
ignores the results ██ ███ ████████ █████ ██ ██████
Theodora does ignore Marcia’s research, but this isn’t what makes her argument most vulnerable to criticism. Even if she had addressed Marcia’s research, her argument would still be vulnerable to criticism on the grounds that it misrepresents a key claim made by Marcia.
c
takes for granted ████ ██ ██████████ ██████████ ████ ████████ ██████ ████ ██████ ██████ ███████████
Theodora assumes that some meat-based industries would collapse if most people became vegetarians. She doesn't assume that no meat-based industries would collapse unless most people became vegetarians.
d
uses the word ██████ ██ █ ████████████ █████ ███████ ████████ ████████ ████ ████ ████ ██ █ ███████ █████
This is the cookie-cutter flaw of equivocation, where the same term is used in different ways. Theodora doesn’t make this mistake; she uses the word “diet” in the same way as Marcia.
e
takes for granted ████ ██████ ██████ ████ ██ ██████████ ██████████ █████ ██████ ███████████
Theodora assumes that people in meat based-industries would lose their jobs if most people became vegetarians. She never assumes that the people who lose their jobs would all become vegetarians themselves.