Logical Reasoning

PT111 · S1 · Q8 Lobsters and other crustaceans eaten

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Lobsters and other crustaceans eaten by humans are more likely to contract gill diseases when sewage contaminates their water.

Conclusion

The proposal to reroute millions of gallons of sewage offshore would be pointless.

Evidence

Although the sewage does frequently lead to gill diseases in lobsters and other crustaceans that are caught in the harbor, it doesn't really matter because hardly any lobsters live long enough to suffer from those diseases (since they're caught and cooked soon thereafter).

Evaluate

GIVEN THAT the lobsters don't live long enough to be harmed by these gill diseases they get from the sewage, HOW CAN WE ARGUE that there is some point to re-routing sewage offshore?

Well, we just need any positive that could come from re-routing the sewage, since we're disagreeing with "pointless". It could be that we don't have to eat nasty disease-infested lobster. It could be that the harbor smells better, that humans can swim in it, that local birds don't get sick, etc.

Goal

Find an answer that allows to argue that there would be some value in re-routing the sewage offshore.

Which one of the following, if true, most seriously weakens the argument?

Contaminants in the harbor other
No Impact
If anything, this strengthens. It's kinda like, "What's the point in sparing them of Disease X when Disease Y is gonna get them anyway?" Mostly, we would just say that bringing up contaminants besides sewage is out of scope, since we're only debating whether or not something positive would be achieved by getting rid of the sewage. Other than sewage = classic Out of Scope wording
7% picked this
Lobsters, like other crustaceans, live
Irrelevant Comparison
We might even say this strengthens, since our author's current case is that it's fine that these lobsters are getting gill diseases since they'll die before they'll ever suffer from the disease. This answer makes it sound like if we re-routed the sewage to the open ocean, then lobsters out there might contract the disease and live long enough to suffer from it. Our author might be able to argue that this proposal is not only pointless, but it would actually lead to MORE lobster and crustacean suffering.
16% picked this
Lobsters breed as readily in
Strengthens
If this had said lobsters don't breed as readily in sewage-contaminated water, then we would have a Weakener. We could argue, "It's not pointless to get rid of sewage -- yes they don't suffer from the gill diseases the sewage gives them, but the sewage is slowing down their reproductive rate, so if we re-routed the sewage we would have more delicious lobsters to catch."
12% picked this
Gill diseases cannot be detected
Out of Scope
It's hard to sense any impact one way or the other on this argument whether gill diseases can / can't be detected on the surface of the lobster. If you have to look inside the lobster's mouth to detect the disease, is that really a game-changer? Do we even care about detecting the diseases?
4% picked this
Correct
Humans often become ill as
Why this is right
This allows us to argue that there would be some point to re-routing sewage: yes, we don't need to do it for the lobsters, since they don't live long enough to suffer from the gill diseases they contract from the sewage ... but .... we should do it for the humans who eat lobsters, so that not as many humans get sick from eating diseased lobsters.
Skill tested: Weaken · how this choice captures the argument's function is the move to repeat next time.
62% picked this

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