Logical Reasoning

PT140 · S3 · Q4 The Magno-Blanket is probably able

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The Magno-Blanket is probably able to relieve arthritic pain in older dogs.

Conclusion

Magno-Blanket is probably able to relieve arthritic pain in older dogs.

Evidence

In a hospital study, humans suffering from severe joint pain found that 76% of the them who were treated with magnets reported less pain after 3 weeks.

Dogs and humans have similar physiologies, and using a Magno-Blanket on a dog would bring the magnets into similar proximity to the bad joints.

Evaluate

Since the author is interpreting a study and making a causal assumption about it, we can use our Curious Fact / Explanation mindset.

Curious Fact .. why did people report less pain 3 weeks after being treated with magnets? Author's Explanation ... the magnet caused the pain reduction.

We always address this type of template by asking two question: - how else could we explain why they reported less pain? - how plausible is the author's story that the magnets caused the pain reduction?

There is also a Comparison dimension to this argument, in addition to that Causal one just discussed.

Even if we granted that the Magno Blanket did cause pain relief in humans, we still would have to wonder whether that would hold true for old dogs with arthritic pain.

Maybe old dogs aren't fair to compare to these hospital patients. Maybe arthritic pain isn't fair to compare to severe joint pain.

Goal

We have three possibilities - rule out an alternate explanation for why the humans felt better 3 weeks after magnets - increase the plausibility that the magnets caused pain relief - make it more likely that it's fair to compare old dogs w/ arthritic pain to these hospitalized humans with severe joint pain.

Which one of the following, if true, most strengthens the argument?

The Magno-Blanket is likely to
If-Conclusion
This answer choice says, "If (it turns out that) Magno-Blanket would effectively reduce joint pain in arthritic dogs, then we would know _____ ." We're trying to figure out IF that idea is true. We don't care what comes next or what would follow from that. Any time a strengthening type answer choice says "If [conclusion is true]" it's wrong. Any time a weakening type answer choice says "Even if [conclusion is true]", it's wrong. These arguments are about litigating the truth of the conclusion. These types of answer choices are part of some other trial, since they're outside of the issue of whether the conclusion is true.
6% picked this
Magnets have been shown to
Weakens
This undermines the plausibility that magnets cause pain relief. When we're feeling pain from some area, nerves from that area are sending "pain" messages back to our brains. If magnets intensify that transmission, then magnets would intensify the feeling of pain.
10% picked this
There are currently fewer means
No Impact
We're trying to figure out whether Magno Blankets is a means of safely alleviating arthritic pain in dogs. Whether there are 20 other available means of alleviating joint pain in dogs, or whether there are 1000 other or 0 other means is irrelevant. How many ladders I currently do / don't own (or whether I have more/fewer ladders than my neighbor) is irrelevant when it comes to assessing whether THIS ladder is a viable ladder for accomplishing a certain task.
5% picked this
The patients in the hospital
Weakens, if anything
This idea is a mouthful, so let's take it in bite-sized pieces. Let's just pause with this much: patients w/ severe pain who got treated with magnets and didn't report reduced pain (i.e. reported they still had as much pain). Do they have any impact or relevance to this conversation? Yes. In fact their existence kind of weakens the argument that magnets caused pain relief in the hospital study. Now, if you were defending the idea that magnets did indeed cause pain relief, in the hospital study, you might make an excuse for these counterexample patients, and say, "Yes, some people didn't report pain relief, but that's just because they were the patients suffering from the most severe pain." That would be a way to protect the argument against an objection (which would mildly strengthen). But this answer actually says that the ones who felt no pain relief from the magnets weren't the worst suffering people. At its best, this answer choice would be making an excuse for the people who got treated with magnets but didn't report pain relief, so even if we re-wrote it to "fix" it, it would still just be trying to limit the damage of a weakening idea (make an excuse for counterexamples in which magnets didn't lead to reports of pain relief).
5% picked this
Correct
Most of the patients in
Why this is right
The most common form of correct answer on Strengthen, when the argument is making some Cause/Effect assumption is to show us data points that say, "things not exposed to the supposed Cause did not experience the supposed effect." (i.e. the Control Group in a science experiment) That's what this answer choice is doing. It's increasing the plausibility that the Magno Blanket treatment genuinely helped reduce the joint pain, by ruling out the placebo effect and ruling out the idea that their pain just improved on its own over the course of 3 weeks. If people who didn't get the magnet treatment didn't report less pain, then that makes it more plausible that magnets really were the causal difference-maker that led to pain relief.
Skill tested: Strengthen · how this choice captures the argument's function is the move to repeat next time.
74% picked this

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