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TOPIC: ARGUMENT36 - The following appeared in an article written by Dr. Karp, an anthropologist.
"Twenty years ago Dr. Field, a noted anthropologist, visited the island of Tertia and concluded from his observations that children in Tertia were reared by an entire village rather than by their own biological parents. However, my recent interviews with children living in the group of islands that includes Tertia show that these children spend much more time talking about their biological parents than about other adults in the village. This research proves that Dr. Field's conclusion about Tertian village culture is false, and thus that the observation-centered approach to studying cultures is invalid. Because they are using the interview-centered method, my team of graduate students working in Tertia will establish a much more accurate understanding of child-rearing traditions there and in other island cultures."
In this argument, the arguer recommends that Dr. Field's conclusion about Tertian village culture is false and thus that the observation-centered approach to studying cultures is invalid. To justify this claim, the arguer provides the facts that his team of graduate students working in Tertia will establish understanding of child-rearing traditions, which is assumpted as a much more accurate understanding. This argument is unconvincing for several critical flaws.
The argument is based on a hasty generalization. According to the cited facts, we can get no evidence that whom the children are reared by. In the absence of detail statistics or examples, it is impossible to tell the result.
Another unwarranted assumption is that the result is concluded from the fact that children spend much more time talking about their biological parents than about other adults in the village. It can only indicate that children contact more with their parents than with other people in the village because of the natural relationship between parents and child. Parents would care more about their child. But the arguer fails to rule out the possibilities that children are reared by the whole village. In addition, the arguer has not tell us whether he takes measures to ensure the accurate of the interview, or whether they talk about the topic about their parents, which can misleading children, though the interview.
Even though the old conclusion is false, we cannot draw the conclusion that the means taken by Dr. Field is also not accurate. Whether the means is accurate or not, there are significant factors should be taken into consideration, For example, the ability of the researcher, the co-work of the villagers and so on. What's more, the opinion of Dr. Field is concluded twenty years ago, anyone can not rule out the possibility that the culture has changed these years, and as a result, the assumption is open to doubt.
As it stands, the argument is not well reasoned. To make it logically acceptable, the arguer would have to research the culture of the village, not generalizes hasty without providing more evidence. |
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