The following appeared as part of a letter to the editor of a scientific journal.
"A recent study of eighteen rhesus monkeys provides clues as to the effects of birth order on an individual's levels of stimulation. The study showed that in stimulating situations (such as an encounter with an unfamiliar monkey), firstborn infant monkeys produce up to twice as much of the hormone cortisol, which primes the body for increased activity levels, as do their younger siblings. Firstborn humans also produce relatively high levels of cortisol in stimulating situations (such as the return of a parent after an absence). The study also found that during pregnancy, first-time mother monkeys had higher levels of cortisol than did those who had had several offspring."
Write a response in which you discuss one or more alternative explanations that could rival the proposed explanation and explain how your explanation(s) can plausibly account for the facts presented in the argument.
This portion of the letter to the editor of the scientific journal attempts to state the various similarities between monkeys and humans based on first-birth by providing several instances that are questionable in various aspects. There exist those who might agree that high level of similarity exists between the firstborn man and firstborn monkey. There may be people who dispute the fact that cortisol is a highly influential factor in child birth and those who affirm that. There can also exist those who blindly assert that cortisol is a prime component relating to human evolution based on child birth. However, the author of this letter presents a poorly reasoned argument built upon several questionable premises that tend to fall apart under high level of scrutiny. Based solely on the evidences at hand, the author's conclusion cannot be supported.
The primary concern with author's reasoning is his baseless assumptions. The author promulgated that firstborn human and firstborn monkey showed similar rise in cortisol than their younger siblings. Does this mean that all the biological aspects of human and monkey are identical ? This is a weak analogy that cannot be supported devoid of actual evidentiary facts. The author undermines his argument by failing to explain the tangible correlation between human and monkey that he presumes to exist.
In addition to relying on unfounded hypotheses, the author camouflages his lack of evidence by equivocating throughout his argument. The author claimed about the survey of eighteen rhesus monkey but does that mean that these monkeys reflect the characters of all the rhesus monkeys? Does the rhesus monkey reflect the biological aspects of all the genres of monkeys? The use of ambiguous language by the author makes the scope and validity of the argument obscure.
Further, the author derives many fallacious inferences that makes the premises upon which the argument is built debatable at the best. The author delineates that firstborn beings showed the rise in cortisol in situations involving a rise in stimuli, but is that the only reason for rise in cortisol levels? Does no other factor give rise to the levels of cortisol in them? Does the situation rise only the levels of cortisol? The assumptions that are formulated over logical fallacies contributes more towards the invalidity of the argument than the contrary.
Notwithstanding the dubious fallacies and unsubstantiated assumptions, the author's argument might have merits as well.
The author can conduct research over more monkeys and humans such that there exists a eclectic trait of all existing traits and by gathering the data relevant to that the reasoning can be strengthened.
Further research is required in this field to provide conclusive evidence to support the baseless premises over which rests the argument. If the author hopes to prove his problematic statement then more insight and research in this field is required to strengthen the premise. If no such legitimate evidence is provided, the argument is prone to be negated.
| Post date | Users | Rates | Link to Content |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2017-01-26 | mharish2797 | 29 | view |
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- The following appeared as part of a letter to the editor of a scientific journal."A recent study of eighteen rhesus monkeys provides clues as to the effects of birth order on an individual's levels of stimulation. The study showed that in stimulating situ 58
Grammar and spelling errors:
Line 1, column 479, Rule ID: ENGLISH_WORD_REPEAT_BEGINNING_RULE
Message: Three successive sentences begin with the same word. Reword the sentence or use a thesaurus to find a synonym.
... child birth and those who affirm that. There can also exist those who blindly assert...
^^^^^
Line 1, column 819, Rule ID: POSSESIVE_APOSTROPHE[1]
Message: Possible typo: apostrophe is missing. Did you mean 'authors'' or 'author's'?
Suggestion: authors'; author's
...ed solely on the evidences at hand, the authors conclusion cannot be supported. The ...
^^^^^^^
Line 5, column 189, Rule ID: CD_NN[1]
Message: Possible agreement error. The noun 'monkey' seems to be countable, so consider using: 'monkeys'.
Suggestion: monkeys
...med about the survey of eighteen rhesus monkey but does that mean that these monkeys r...
^^^^^^
Line 9, column 76, Rule ID: POSSESIVE_APOSTROPHE[1]
Message: Possible typo: apostrophe is missing. Did you mean 'authors'' or 'author's'?
Suggestion: authors'; author's
...es and unsubstantiated assumptions, the authors argument might have merits as well. Th...
^^^^^^^
Line 10, column 85, Rule ID: EN_A_VS_AN
Message: Use 'an' instead of 'a' if the following word starts with a vowel sound, e.g. 'an article', 'an hour'
Suggestion: an
...nkeys and humans such that there exists a eclectic trait of all existing traits a...
^
Transition Words or Phrases used:
also, but, first, however, if, may, so, then, well, in addition
Attributes: Values AverageValues Percentages(Values/AverageValues)% => Comments
Performance on Part of Speech:
To be verbs : 18.0 19.6327345309 92% => OK
Auxiliary verbs: 8.0 12.9520958084 62% => OK
Conjunction : 13.0 11.1786427146 116% => OK
Relative clauses : 24.0 13.6137724551 176% => OK
Pronoun: 36.0 28.8173652695 125% => OK
Preposition: 65.0 55.5748502994 117% => OK
Nominalization: 18.0 16.3942115768 110% => OK
Performance on vocabulary words:
No of characters: 2594.0 2260.96107784 115% => OK
No of words: 488.0 441.139720559 111% => OK
Chars per words: 5.31557377049 5.12650576532 104% => OK
Fourth root words length: 4.70007681154 4.56307096286 103% => OK
Word Length SD: 2.7343218672 2.78398813304 98% => OK
Unique words: 228.0 204.123752495 112% => OK
Unique words percentage: 0.467213114754 0.468620217663 100% => OK
syllable_count: 803.7 705.55239521 114% => OK
avg_syllables_per_word: 1.6 1.59920159681 100% => OK
A sentence (or a clause, phrase) starts by:
Pronoun: 2.0 4.96107784431 40% => OK
Interrogative: 0.0 0.471057884232 0% => OK
Article: 14.0 8.76447105788 160% => OK
Subordination: 2.0 2.70958083832 74% => OK
Conjunction: 1.0 1.67365269461 60% => OK
Preposition: 1.0 4.22255489022 24% => More preposition wanted as sentence beginning.
Performance on sentences:
How many sentences: 25.0 19.7664670659 126% => OK
Sentence length: 19.0 22.8473053892 83% => The Avg. Sentence Length is relatively short.
Sentence length SD: 41.6433235945 57.8364921388 72% => OK
Chars per sentence: 103.76 119.503703932 87% => OK
Words per sentence: 19.52 23.324526521 84% => OK
Discourse Markers: 2.52 5.70786347227 44% => More transition words/phrases wanted.
Paragraphs: 7.0 5.15768463074 136% => Less paragraphs wanted.
Language errors: 5.0 5.25449101796 95% => OK
Sentences with positive sentiment : 7.0 8.20758483034 85% => OK
Sentences with negative sentiment : 10.0 6.88822355289 145% => OK
Sentences with neutral sentiment: 8.0 4.67664670659 171% => OK
What are sentences with positive/Negative/neutral sentiment?
Coherence and Cohesion:
Essay topic to essay body coherence: 0.0992421068352 0.218282227539 45% => OK
Sentence topic coherence: 0.0306127076545 0.0743258471296 41% => OK
Sentence topic coherence SD: 0.0397972635438 0.0701772020484 57% => OK
Paragraph topic coherence: 0.0441942417608 0.128457276422 34% => Maybe some paragraphs are off the topic.
Paragraph topic coherence SD: 0.0376436674647 0.0628817314937 60% => OK
Essay readability:
automated_readability_index: 13.4 14.3799401198 93% => Automated_readability_index is low.
flesch_reading_ease: 52.19 48.3550499002 108% => OK
smog_index: 8.8 7.1628742515 123% => OK
flesch_kincaid_grade: 10.7 12.197005988 88% => OK
coleman_liau_index: 13.58 12.5979740519 108% => OK
dale_chall_readability_score: 8.98 8.32208582834 108% => OK
difficult_words: 136.0 98.500998004 138% => OK
linsear_write_formula: 13.5 12.3882235529 109% => OK
gunning_fog: 9.6 11.1389221557 86% => OK
text_standard: 14.0 11.9071856287 118% => OK
What are above readability scores?
---------------------
Maximum six paragraphs wanted.
Rates: 58.33 out of 100
Scores by essay e-grader: 3.5 Out of 6 -- The score is based on the average performance of 20,000 argument essays. This e-grader is not smart enough to check on arguments.
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Note: the e-grader does NOT examine the meaning of words and ideas. VIP users will receive further evaluations by advanced module of e-grader and human graders.