The following appeared as part of an article in a newsletter for farmers:
“Users of Solacium, a medicinal herb now grown mainly in Asia, report that it relieves tension and promotes deep sleep. A recent study indicates that a large number of college students who took pills containing one of the ingredients in Solacium suffered less anxiety. To satisfy the anticipated demands for this very promising therapeutic herb and to reap the financial benefits, farmers in this country should begin growing it.”
Discuss how well reasoned you find this argument. In your discussion be sure to analyze the line of reasoning and the use of evidence in the argument. For example, you may need to consider what questionable assumptions underlie the thinking and what alternative explanations or counterexamples might weaken the conclusion. You can also discuss what sort of evidence would strengthen or refute the argument, what changes in the argument would make it more logically sound, and what, if anything, would help you better evaluate its conclusion.
The claim that Solacium, a medicinal herb grown mainly in Asia, relieves tension and promotes deep sleep. The paragraph begins with the assumption that the herb is beneficial for college students, and that it is therefore important that farmers begin growing the herb in the United States. However, the newsletter does not make any mention of research to support this assumption, nor does it call for further research to identify the connection between the herb and the students’ results. Thus, the newsletter merely speculates rather than provides proof
Agricultural economists have studied the benefits and limitations of the various crops grown in the United States, and these studies have guided farmers to make rational decisions. Farmers have determined that, on average, corn yields more profit per acre than soybeans. Thus, farmers plant more corn and less soybeans, knowing that corn will better maximize their profit. The newsletter makes a similar assumption, but does not seem to provide any evidence to support it. The newsletter implies that the herb is beneficial and suggests that farmers begin growing it in the United States. However, there is no evidence to suggest that the herb is any more effective than other remedies for treating anxiety. Furthermore, the newsletter seems to make no mention of any potential drawbacks to using the herb. The newsletter does not acknowledge any side effects of the herb, nor does it suggest any precautions that should be followed. The newsletter also does not make any reference to any adverse reactions that have previously occurred due to using the herb. The absence of this information is disconcerting because farmers are wary of growing any new crops because it can create problems for the crop. If farmers start growing Solacium, they may not have time to prepare or plan for the possible problems that could arise from using the herb
Another problem with the newsletter is that the farmers are not told that the results of their study indicate that Solacium relieves anxiety. The newsletter implies that the herb relieves anxiety, but provides no proof that it does. It is possible that the herb relieves anxiety, but that the students who took the herb did not experience any relief. Since the results of their study are not presented, there is no way to determine the validity of the claim. A further problem is that the newsletter does not provide any evidence that Solacium relieves anxiety. The only evidence supplied is that the herb relieves ‘tension’, which can be interpreted as a symptom rather than the cause of the students’ anxiety. Solacium relieves tension, but the relief is not from anxiety. Thus, the newsletter’s claim that Solacium relieves anxiety is weak, at best
Another problem with the newsletter is that it does not provide any proof that farmers should grow Solacium. The newsletter states that farmers should grow the herb to reap the financial benefits. However, the newsletter does not provide any evidence that the herb is more profitable than other crops. The newsletter does not attempt to estimate the cost of the production or the selling price of the herb. Thus, there is no way to determine how much money the farmers stand to profit by growing the herb. Furthermore, the farmers do not seem to be informed that the herb is beneficial for treating anxiety and therefore that growing the herb might relieve some of the financial burden associated with treating anxiety. Thus, the profit motive seems weak
Since the newsletter makes no attempt to support its claim that Solacium relieves anxiety or that farmers should grow the herb, the evidence supports the conclusion that the newsletter is poorly reasoned.