Logical Reasoning

PT116 · S3 · Q11 Geneticist: Billions of dollars are

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Geneticist: Billions of dollars are spent each year on high-profile experiments that attempt to link particular human genes with particular personality traits.

Conclusion (thus)

Funding for human gene research should be reduced while funding for other genetic research should be increased.

Evidence

Human gene research has few practical consequences (but billions are spent on it).

Other genetic research are more mundane and practical, and grossly underfunded.

Evaluate

While most Strengthen + Principle questions want us to pick an answer that supplies a good Linking idea ("If Premise, then Conclusion"), there is a sizable minority that deal more with Weighing Tradeoffs.

This seems like a ripe contender for that sort of answer, since the conversation is about weighing the tradeoffs between where we invest our funding dollars.

Goal

If the answer is in a Linking style, it should stress the advantage that "other genetic research" has over "human gene research":

if research X has more then more funding practical consequences → should go to X than research Y than to Y

If the answer is a Weighing Tradeoffs style, then it should say the upside of "other genetic research" is more important than the upside of "human gene research":

In terms of how we spend our limited funding dollars, practical consequences is more important than a new understanding of human nature.

But we'll consider any answer that strengthens.

11.

Which one of the following principles, if valid, most helps to justify the geneticist's reasoning?

  1. Experiments that have the potential

    Weak Evidence/Conclusion Match

    Given that other research could have practical consequences such as making edible plants stronger and healthier whereas human gene research has few practical consequences, we might surmise that Other Research has more potential to help the whole human race. But saying that anything would help "the whole human race" is a pretty extreme idea. And this answer isn't phrased in Relative language. Can we confidently say the evidence told us that Other Genetic Research has the potential to help the whole human race? No, there's no language match for that. Also, even if we made that step away from the actual language of the Evidence, this is only allowing us to say, "Experiments in Other Research are more worthwhile than experiments in Human Gene Research". From there we'd be assuming "the more worthwhile, the more funding it should get", in order to connect to the conclusion. Overall, this answer doesn't seem totally off, but its connection to the wording in the evidence and to that in the conclusion is strained on two levels.

    2% picked this

  2. Experiments that focus on the

    Bad Conclusion Match

    This would only help us to conclude which form of experiment / research is more practical, but our job is to find a principle that helps us to conclude which type of experiment / research should get more/less funding.

    10% picked this

  3. Experiments that help prevent malnutrition

    Weak Conclusion Match Bad Evidence Match

    Just like (A), this is only usable to conclude that one form of experiment/research is more worthwhile than another, but the conclusion is about which form should be more funded. This answer's connection to evidence language is even more distant than (A)'s, since we never heard that any research could prevent malnutrition or prevent undesirable personality traits.

    4% picked this

  4. Correct

    Experiments that have modest but

    Why this is right

    Like (A) and (C), this is only allowing to conclude that one form of research is more worthwhile than another. We have to add in our common sense that "the more worthwhile research should be given more funding". Human Gene Research was said to have few practical consequences. Did it also have impressive goals? Sure, "a new understanding of human nature" is an impressive goal! Other Gene Research was described as "more mundane and practical", so it is more modest / humdrum / everyday, but definitely has practical goals. According to this answer, then, experiments in Human Gene Research are less worthwhile than are those in Other Genetic Research. This ended up having the feel of the Weighing Tradeoffs style of answer.

    Skill tested: Principle-Strengthen · how this choice captures the argument's function is the move to repeat next time.

    83% picked this

  5. Experiments that get little media

    Bad Evidence Match

    In order to apply this answer to the conversation at hand, we would need to know that Human Gene Research gets a lot of media coverage and has wide public support. And we'd need to know that Other Genetic Research gets little media attention and is not widely supported by the public. We have no idea whether, or to what extent, the public supports either one of these types of research.

    0% picked this

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