Argument56 [Mettle] by werecat

werecatUID: 2289296

56Collectors prize the ancient life-size clay statues of human figures made on Kali Island but have long wondered how the Kalinese artists were able to depict bodies with such realistic precision. Since archeologists have recently discovered molds of human heads and hands on Kali, we can now conclude that the ancient Kalinese artists used molds of actual bodies, not sculpting tools and techniques, to create these statues. This discovery explains why Kalinese miniature statues were abstract and entirely different in style: molds could only be used for life-size sculptures. It also explains why few ancient Kalinese sculpting tools have been found. In light of this development, collectors should expect the life-size sculptures to decrease in value and the miniatures to increase in value.


In the passage the author recommends the collectors to expect the value decreasing of life-size sculptures and the increasing of miniatures. In order to support his conclusion, the author listed several evidences:(1)Archeologists have recently discovered molds of human heads and hands on Kali,which could be used to create sculptures (2)The ancient Kalinese artists used molds of actual bodies, not sculpting tools and techniques to create these life-size statues; (3) The molds could only be used for life-size sculptures, thus the miniature statues were abstract and entirely different in style. However, close scrutiny reveals that these evidence are insufficient to provide warrant to the conclusion and there are also logical flaws in the reasoning.

In the first place, it is not solely the methods of creating artifacts that affect the values of the sculptures. It is more common that the value of ancient sculptrues are determined by their discovered numbers and the assessments given by the experts. So if they are unique in the history and achieve highly in the filed of sculpturing, then the fact of using molds will means nothing. Because of the same reason, we can not guarantee that the miniatures will be boosted for their values given the chances that they are made relatively recently and in huge numbers.

Secondly, we have not confirmed evidence to prove the assumption that the life-size sculptures are made entirely of molds. In the article, the author only confirmed that few tools were found in Kali, however it is not sufficient to obliterate the possibility that Kalinese used tools and special techniques in creating life-size sculptures. Chances are that these tools are delicate and thus were decayed with the time pass by.

Thirdly, as it is clear that molds could be used for life-size creating, it is also entirely possible that the molds were used in manufacturing the miniatures as well. Since the archeologists have not proved the public with definite details of the whole creating processes of the miniatures, we may still suppose that the molds used for miniautres do exist but are not disintered yet.
Finally, there are also no proven evidence showing that these molds are forged in the purpose of making these specific life-size sculptures. As no one has examined and compared these molds and the working of sculptures thoroughly, we may still not exclude the chance that these molds and the sculptrues were not made in the same period of time. If such scenario is true, then the only truth is that they occured in the same place and have no causal relationship at all.

In summary, this article suffers from many flaws so that it is unconvincing and groundless. Until the author provides us with further information about the relationship between the artistries and their values, we can not accept this recommendation willingly. What's more, detailed archeology results and opinion must be considered before the connections between molds and sculptures can be warranted.