Self-study
Science writer: Scientists often accept a scientific argument largely for social reasons, such as the argument's acceptance by other scientists or the prestige of the scientist making the argument. ███ ████ ██ ███ ██ ███ ██ ███ █████████ ██████████ ███ ███████ ██████ ███████ ████████ █████████ █████ █████ █████████
Summarize Argument
The science writer concludes that accepting a scientific argument for social reasons is not detrimental to its science because it is a common practice.
Identify and Describe Flaw
The writer concludes the non-harm of a practice based on its popularity. In doing this, she assumes that commonness has a relationship with harm or lack of harm. For example, if genocide were to suddenly catch on as common practice in every country, that would not make it less harmful.
14.
The science writer's argument is ████ ██████████ ██ █████████ ██ ███ ███████ ████ ██
a
takes for granted ████ ███ ████ ██████████ ███████ ███ █████████ ██ ████████ ███ ██████ ███████
The argument doesn’t assume this. The writer is assuming that, because it’s frequently done, social reasons are legitimate reasons for accepting an argument. But she is not saying that these are the only legitimate reasons.
b
takes for granted ████ ███████ █ ████████ █████████ ███ ███████████ ██ █ ██████████ ██████████ █████ ███████ ██ ███ ██████████ ██ ██████████ █████████ ██ █████ █████████
The science writer has jumped from “Look, lots of people do it!” to “So it can’t be that bad!” This is the flaw that (B) describes.
c
fails to consider ███ ███████████ ████ ██████████ ███ ██████ ██ ████████ ███████ ███ ██████ ███████ ████ █████████ ████████ ████████ ██████████ ████████ ██████ █████████ ███ ████████
This wouldn’t damage the argument, so failing to consider it can’t be a flaw. Whether these scientists consider other evidence or not wouldn’t change whether accepting an argument for social reasons, to any degree, is harmful.
d
fails to consider ███ ███████████ ████ ████ ██████████ ███ ███████ ████ ████ ███████ ██████ ██████████ █████████ ███████ ███ ██████ ███████
This wouldn’t damage the argument, so failing to consider it can’t be a flaw. Self-awareness doesn’t change whether social reasons are harmful or not.
e
takes for granted ████ █ ████████ ████ ██ ███ ███████████ ██ ███ ████████ ████ ███ ██ ███████████ ██ ███ █████ █████ ████████
The argument doesn’t assume this—the conclusion only assesses damage to the sciences. If (E) had said “...not detrimental to any other human endeavor will not be detrimental to the sciences,” it would be closer. But even then, we don’t know that this behavior isn’t harmful to other endeavors.