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Issue 48 “The study of history places too much emphasis on individuals. The most significant events and trends in history were made possible not by the famous few. But by groups of people whose identities have long been forgotten. ”


The issue of whether the famous few or the nameless groups of people created the most significant events and trends in history is a complete one. In my point of view, most of historical substantial events and trends were made possible by those unknown groups of people; however, there still exists a certain exception. And meanwhile we should not deny the role some great leaders played, sometimes crucial.

First and foremost, it is the unknown groups of people that determine most events and trends of significance in history. For instance, we often call the Age of Sail as the beginning ofThe Industrial Revolution. Thanks to it, western and eastern countries were connected so that the international trade started, which casted light upon the whole world. When the above historical trends are mentioned, the names like Columbus, Magellan and Vasco da Gama come to our minds. But did these famous captains lead the most vital events-finding the New Land, traveling around the world and creating a route towardsIndiaon sea?The answer is no. The honors should greatly contribute to those nameless heroes who spared no efforts to realize human being’s navigational dream. Some failed; some died in the sea; but their experience and lessons as treasure and faith left to the successors. Without their courage and sacrifice, we may still believe the world is flat ,let alone prosperous economic and resplendent civilization. Then, let us go back to the late 1910s,one of the momentous events bursted after Chinese disappointed diplomacy in the Paris Peace Conference. Due to the date, it is called by’54 movements’. At first, just severalpatriotic students inBeijingparaded on the streets, and as it continued, more Chinese people were aroused and joined them, including workers. They went on strike to close up the factories to drain their anger towards the Beiyang Government. Far from expectations, the movements developed nationwide soon. It symbolized theChinaentered a brand-new stage, the New Democratic Revolution. None of the students or workers are well- known nowadays, and in fact, there did not exist any famous leader in it. But no one can deny’54 movements’ as one epoch-making event in Chinese 5000 year history.

However, every proposition has its own exception, as well as the above discussed one. A certain famous few actually reached valuable accomplishment ,and  Isaac Newton is one convincing case. Though born poor, his extraordinary brain and hardworking attitude brought him the Royal Society of London. He discovered the Law of Gravity andNewton's three basic principles, created the Calculus and laid the foundation for classical Mechanics theories. All of theseachievement definitely enhanced the progress of modern science and technology. To sum up, we shall to admit that there still exists a certain famous few once created historical significant events and trends.

Till now, the analysis of the issue seems complete, but we should doubt why the study of history places too much emphasis on individuals. As far as I concerned, it is their great leadership so that we can not deny the role they played in history, sometimes rather crucial. Here two famous American presidents have to be mentioned. One is Abraham Lincoln, the other is Franklin Roosevelt. Both of them rescuedUSAand changed history at the critical moment, so USA is called lucky enough to have them. In the Civil War, the final triumph was indeed achieved by Union armies and emancipated blackslaves. But it is Abraham Lincoln who enacted Homestead Act and The Emancipation Proclamation that accelerated the strength of black to be added.And also it isAbraham Lincoln that chaged soutern laggardplantations into northern industrial capitalism and unit the whole country.Similarly,during the World War Two,though we can not separate the ultimate victory from groups of soliders’blood and tears.Franklin Roosevelt, the only American president elected to four terms as well as stricken with poliomyelitis, led the American army to fight with anti-fascist alliance. He helped the American people regain faith in themselves and brought hope as he promised prompt, vigorous action, and asserted in his Inaugural Address, "the only thing we have to fear is fear itself." Franklin Roosevelt was ranked withWinston Churchill andJoseph Stalinas the three big heads. Consequently, we should pay enough attention to the famous few and their great leadership.

In sum, from what has been discussed above, we may finally draw the conclusion that the study of history should places enough emphasis on groups of people who created the most significant events and trends in history, but meanwhile not deny the crucial role some famous few played, especially their great leadership.

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ISSUE153 - "Students should bring a certain skepticism to whatever they study. They should question what they are taught instead of accepting it passively."


The speaker asserts students should bring the spirit of skepticism into their study. I strongly agree with him on the assertation that students should be inclined to question positively, not accept passively what they learn, which can be substantiated by the following discussions.

To begin with, it can amend the ancestor’s errors and push the science forwards that students doubt about allegations of pseudoscience derived from canons of some philosophers or religion. For example, in the medieval times of Europe, the Ptolemaic system of geocentrism coincided with the theory of Roman Curia, so it prevailed then. But by comparing astronomical data gleaned for a long period with the classical doctrine, Copernicus found there existed incorrespondence between them. Since the data are statistically reliable, it is only the geocentrism that had flaws in it. Therefore, Copernicus set up the system of heliocentricism, which is called the turning point of modern science. Another scientist called Galileo was also a student who was fond of raising questions. Aristotle, the Greek philosopher, wined h honor that every word told by him was deemed as the canon, and one of them was ”if two balls of different weight falls down from the same height, the heavier one reaches the ground first.” Based on the assumption of attaching two balls together, Galileo analyzed that the lighter would thrall the heavier so that them slowed down not speeded up. He proved it by the famous experiment on the Tower of Pisa and two balls arrived at the same time. So, without these students who were brave to speak out their questions, the human kinds would still be submerged into confusion.

In addition, questioning what we learn can make us understand problems more completely and clearly, even break down traditional Stereotype and set up newly theory. At the late nineteenth century, the whole physics field remained astagnant state, for Newton’s classical Mechanics theory seemed to be so perfect that it needed nothing but a bit ofemendations somewhere. A brilliant talent calledAlbert Einstein appearedat the crucial moment. He rebutted Newton’s theory on the assertion that it only couldbe applicable to

inertial system, and once the speed almost increased as fast as the light, it could not be used any more. The above claim surprising the whole academia are well known as ‘mass-energy equation’ .With his following publication of Special Relativity and General Relativity, Albert Einstein brought a new horizon to scan our world and set up basic theory to realize human beings’ aeronautical dream. Thus, it quite satisfies the need for innovation in modern society that students question positively what they study.

Furthermore, when we hold our proposition up to the philosophic height, the term ’skepticism’ come across our mind. Skepticism refers to the philosophic position that the possibility of knowledge is limited either because of the limitation of the mind or because of the inaccessibility of its object. That is to say, the limitation of research method and technical level brings questions to us, in turn, we spare no effort to improve equipment and perfect theory to solve the problems. Just as Clarence Darrow ever writes ’As long as the world shall last there will be wrongs, and if no man rebelled, those wrongs would last forever ’.

In sum, from what has been discussed above, we may finally draw a conclusion that skepticism should be taken into students’ learning process and they should be inclined to find questions about what they study rather tan accept the existing theory, becoming unthinking machines without individuality.

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ARGUMENT45 - The following appeared as an editorial in a wildlife journal.
"Arctic deer live on islands in Canada's arctic region. They search for food by moving over ice from island to island during the course of a year. Their habitat is limited to areas warm enough to sustain the plants on which they feed, and cold enough, at least some of the year, for the ice to cover the sea separating the islands, allowing the deer to travel over it. Unfortunately, according to reports from local hunters, the deer populations are declining. Since these reports coincide with recent global warming trends that have caused the sea ice to melt, we can conclude that the decline in arctic deer populations is the result of deer being unable to follow their age-old migration patterns across the frozen sea."



By associating the decline in arctic deer with global warming that melts the sea ice, the notion that it makes the deer population reduce that the deer can not follow their age-old migration patterns across the frozen sea seems to be an obvious conclusion. However, there exists three aspects of flaws that I will discuss one by one in details as follows.

First of all, the reliability and generalization of the report from local hunters are highly suspected. The result that the arctic deer populations are declining is gleaned by scientific method, or by experience even gnosis as a local hunter? Moreover, lacking information how broad the survey was and how long it lasts, and also doubting whether the samples are representative of the overall population of the arctic deer, it is impossible to access the validity of the result.

Even if the report conducted by local hunters is statistically reliable, the relationship between two facts-the decline in the deer populations and the recent global warming trends are close connected or a coincidence is completely unwarranted. The extent that global warming causes the sea ice to melt varies from place to place, depending on many factors, like temperature, geography, plants and so on. From the editorial we find little evidence for proving the recent global warming trends have such strong an influence that melt the sea ice ,which surrounds the habitat the deer live on, to melt, so that they are unable to follow the traditional migration method.

Even though the above discussed fact exits, the editorial is still failing to consider all other possible alternatives and causes for the reduced number of the arctic deer, except for the explanation of global warming and melted sea ice. For instance, the latent market value attracts more people to hunter the arctic deer or maybe it is just a lie told by local hunters who are intended to lift up the average price of the deer to make a better profit. Also it is at least likely that some kinds of animals are introduced to deer’s habitat, unfortunately, they are the enemies of the deer, or they takes up too much food and space of the deer, for lacking their enemies. And under the circumstance that people who develop industries there build up chemical factories and destruct the local environment, it can definitely results in the decline in arctic deer populations. Even the arctic deer recently migrate to another more fitful habitat; consequently the deer populations in original place reduce.

As far as I concerned, the editorial while it seems logical at first glace, has several flaws as discussed above. Before conclusions that the fact that the arctic deer are unable to follow their ancestor’s migration pattern across the frozen sea, causes the decline in the deer populations are reached, a more complete understanding of the validity of hunters’ result, a certain cause-result relationship and all other possible explanations contributing to the reduced number of the arctic deer are needed.

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ARGUMENT203 - The following appeared in a newspaper feature story.

"At the small, nonprofit hospital in the town of Saluda, the average length of a patient's stay is two days; at the large, for-profit hospital in the nearby city of Megaville, the average patient stay is six days. Also, the cure rate among patients in the Saluda hospital is about twice that of the Megaville hospital. The Saluda hospital has more employees per patient than the hospital in Megaville, and there are few complaints about service at the local hospital. Such data indicate that treatment in smaller, nonprofit hospitals is more economical and of better quality than treatment in larger, for-profit hospitals."


By the comparison between two particular hospitals from four aspects, namely, the average length of a patient’s stay, the cure rate, the number of employees per patient and the complaints about service, the speaker asserts that the treatment in smaller nonprofit hospitals is more economical and of better quality than in larger for-profit ones.

To begin with, the speaker arrives at a hasty generation based on just two particular hospitals'data, even when we doubt whether they are representative. Even if the samples are convincing, we are not  informed how the data are gleaned and how long the period lasts. The validity and accuracy of the report would be highly suspectable, if, for instance, it is conducted by the local hospital or the time for survey is insufficient, even not during the same period.

In addition, Even though the data are statistically reliable, can we assure that the smaller nonprofit hospitals are more economical and of better quality than the lager for-profit ones, where it emphasizes on both two facets? Usually not the case as it expected, I will analyze the above four aspects in turn as follows.

Firstly, the average length of a patient’s stay can only represent that the smaller hospitals are more economical, but it does not necessarily mean a better quality at the same time. It always occurs that the time when one patient stays determines the completement he can recover, because nurses can prevent patients from careless treatment and health-care at home.Secondly, that the higher rate equals to better quality is unwarranted, due to losing sight of the different background between the two hospitals. For example, thanks to its non-profit, more patients are fond to the smaller hospitals regardless of the severity of illness. On the contrary, harsh disease or the limitation of equipment or technique in town make patients have no choice but to go to the larger ones. Furthermore, the dirtier environment, the heavier workload and pressure and the poor nutritious structure contribute to the higher rate of harsh disease among people in city than in town. Thirdly, no evidence is stated to support the assumption that the more employees per patient, the more economical. The increase of employees may cause trouble in management and result in a negative effect. And the speaker commits the “Post hoc ergo propter hoc fallacy”-the number of employees per patient is fallacious reasoning unless the possible course explanations about treatment quality have been considered and ruled out. Exempli gratia, the employees in larger hospitals are maybe more effective and efficient, let alone the lager number of patients in it. Fourthly, at the first glance of the complaints reviews, it seems reasonable. But it turns to be weekly evidenced, when we question about the result in detail. It is at least likely there exists perfect feedback system in larger hospitals, and none in smaller ones. And we can not ignore the psychological factor. People tends to be less satisfied with the treatment faced with for-profit hospitals than non-profit ones, even it reverses in reality.

Overall, the reasoning behind the evaluation of two kinds of hospitals seems logical as presented above from four aspects. However, before any final decisions are made, we should have a deep insight of the representative sample, the reliability of the report and analysis of all possible aspects for one more economical and of better quality hospital in details.