johnny1921

Argument A new study of a colony of meerkats provides insights into the effects of dominance on a male meerkat's levels of testosterone. The study showed that the dominant male of the meerkat colony had blood levels of testosterone that were, on average, about double those of the colony's non-dominant males. Alpha, or dominant, male dogs also have higher levels of testosterone than non-dominant males. The study also found that the male offspring of dominant male meerkats were born with higher testosterone levels than male offspring of non-dominant males. Essay starts here: The argument posits that the meerkat's level of testosterone is affected by their level of dominance. This is based on the preposition that, on average, the dominant male meerkats of a colony have twice the testosterone levels of that of the non-dominant. Although the study has informative findings, the deduced causal relationship between dominance and testosterone level is not ascertained, and the study is circumscribed to one colony only, that its findings cannot be generalized for the whole meerkat population. More points are explained below concerning the implausibility of the argument. With the limited information given in the argument, male meerkat dominance does not imply high testosterone level, neither vice versa. It is possible that both have a common cause such as age. As the meerkat gets older, it is possible that the testosterone level rises and it becomes more dominant. Therefore, a correlation between two variables is not sufficient enough to determine the cause-and-effect relationship. Instead, many other variables such as age, habitat, and lifestyle need to be factored in to attain more cogent deductions. Since the survey is conducted on one colony of meerkats and the dogs population, the results may not reflect that of the general meerkats population. Species residing in different habitats are likely to exhibit disparate behaviors: a cat living in the wilds is likely to be aggressive and untamed, while a cat raised in a house is likely to be soft and amenable. Therefore, the survey has too little a diversity of population that claims derived from such study are not well substantiated. Several suggestions can be put forth to ameliorate the argument: conduct a study on diverse meerkat colonies via systematic sampling conventions, while neglecting irrelevant studies such as the one made on dogs, as different species display dissimilar behaviors. The findings on this new study would be much more representative, by which founded deductions can be discerned.

The Argument: The ancient Oppo tribe has long been thought to have hunted only with wooden spears because none of their cave paintings depict bows or arrows. Recently, however, flint arrowheads have been found among fossilized bones of ibex , animals thought to be a staple of the Oppo tribe's diet. Since these finds were made on land previously inhabited by the Oppo tribe, it follows that the Oppo used both spears and arrows to hunt.The ancient Oppo tribe has long been thought to have hunted only with wooden spears because none of their cave paintings depict bows or arrows. Recently, however, flint arrowheads have been found among fossilized bones of ibex , animals thought to be a staple of the Oppo tribe's diet. Since these finds were made on land previously inhabited by the Oppo tribe, it follows that the Oppo used both spears and arrows to hunt. My Writing: Several groundless assumptions are made in the argument : the assumption that the Oppo's tribe paint their hunting weapons on their caves, and that weapons found on a land that is once inhabited by the Oppo tribe belongs to them. These questionable claims are discussed and reasoning is provided to explain why they are dubious and that there are many other possibilities that can be surmised from the evidence provided. Little information is given regarding the cave painting, rendering its depiction unwarranted, for it is possible that the Oppo tribe neglected their hunting experiences in their paintings, or portrayed all kinds of hunting weapons using a global label that is a wooden spear. What makes cave paintings even more unreliable is the second finding that discovered that flint arrowheads are likely to be the second set of hunting weapons. Finding arrowheads near an animal that is part of the tribe's diet can by no means discern that it is their choice of weaponry. There could have been other tribes in the area who shared similar diet preferences. If the Oppo was ever at war, their major food source, the ibex, might have been hunted by their adversaries, who used arrowheads, for the purpose of starving the tribe. As these are possible counterexamples of the given claim, we can have it safely rebuked. Overall, the correlations conjectured are not well-established, the justifications are weak enough to make the claims fallacious. Although, the authors made a remarkable attempt at analyzing the Oppo tribe, it is indeed elusive to discern their lifestyle from archaeological discoveries, as they are subject to many interpretations. Unless a solid evidence as excavating an Oppo member with an arrowhead in his hand is ascertained, establishing a connection between the Oppo tribe and the arrowheads would be implausible.