Woven baskets characterized by a particular distinctive pattern have previously been found only in the immediate vicinity of the prehistoric village of Palea and therefore were believed to have been made only by the Palean people. Recently, however, archa

Essay topics:

Woven baskets characterized by a particular distinctive pattern have previously been found only in the immediate vicinity of the prehistoric village of Palea and therefore were believed to have been made only by the Palean people. Recently, however, archaeologists discovered such a "Palean" basket in Lithos, an ancient village across the Brim River from Palea. The Brim River is very deep and broad, and so the ancient Paleans could have crossed it only by boat, and no Palean boats have been found. Thus, it follows that the so-called Palean baskets were not uniquely Palean.

Write a response in which you discuss what specific evidence is needed to evaluate the argument and explain how the evidence would weaken or strengthen the argument.

The writer of the argument concludes that the so-called baskets were not uniquely Palean. However, this conclusion is not persuasive as it stands since it is based on a number of premises for the support of which there is not enough evidence.

To begin with, the editorial’s author, in order to draw such an unconvincing conclusion, must assume that the described baskets found only in the vicinity of the prehistoric village of Palea were only manufactured by Palean people. Nevertheless, the author fails to offer any concrete evidence for the support of this crucial assumption. Perhaps, the baskets were made by other people living near that village and were sold to Palean people. We need to know whether any other nearby villages was trading with Palean people. For that matter, it is entirely possible that the baskets were supplied form other villages, in which event the author’s conclusion would lack any merit whatsoever.

Besides, the conclusion relies on another threshold assumption that things have remained unchanged with time. In fact, the writer of the argument draws a strong conclusion for a fact in the past based on a recent observation on the discovered basket. However, absent evidence that this is the case, it is equally possible that Palean people were the manufacturer of the baskets, and after a few years, people of Lithos learnt the technology and techniques to make the mentioned baskets from Palean people and started to produce them. Or maybe, people of both villages were making the baskets at the same time; yet the baskets were only found in the village of Palea due to some improbable concatenation of circumstances. Any of these scenarios, if true, would cast doubt on the author’s conclusion.

Even assuming that there are evidences to support the previous flaws, the conclusion rests on another unsubstantiated assumption that the Palean people could not cross the Brim River since no Palean boats have been found. As far as I am concerned, one cannot conclude that Palean people could not cross the river based on the mere fact no one managed to find a Palean boat since then. Absent such evidence, it is entirely possible that the Palean people had boats; yet, no ships were survived to act as clue. Or maybe, no ships were found due to shortcomings and negligence of archeologists in their search. No one can refute the undeniable fact that a Palean ship, some day in the future, might be found, in which event the author’ conclusion would be unwarranted. In short, unless the author substantiates this critical assumption, I cannot accept the conclusion.

In conclusion, to persuade me that the so-called baskets were not uniquely Palean, the editorial’s writer must supply clear evidence that the baskets were not supplied from other villages nearby. The writer must also provide evidence that none of the above-mentioned scenarios weakening the conclusion were possible.

Votes
Average: 1 (2 votes)
This essay topic by users
Post date Users Rates Link to Content
2023-08-09 M1randa 55 view
2023-08-06 yuktapradeep 55 view
2023-07-30 Vivi5428 66 view
2023-07-30 Vivi5428 68 view
2023-07-09 ZHOU0444 16 view
Essay Categories
Essays by user bigzee :

Comments

argument 1 -- not OK

argument 2 -- not OK

argument 3 -- not OK
--------------------
flaws:
You got the opposite way, need to argue 'the so-called Palean baskets were not uniquely Palean.'

Attribute Value Ideal
Score: ? out of 6
Category: Poor Excellent
No. of Grammatical Errors: 0 2
No. of Spelling Errors: 0 2
No. of Sentences: 20 15
No. of Words: 480 350
No. of Characters: 2382 1500
No. of Different Words: 209 200
Fourth Root of Number of Words: 4.681 4.7
Average Word Length: 4.962 4.6
Word Length SD: 2.659 2.4
No. of Words greater than 5 chars: 173 100
No. of Words greater than 6 chars: 115 80
No. of Words greater than 7 chars: 85 40
No. of Words greater than 8 chars: 51 20
Use of Passive Voice (%): 0 0
Avg. Sentence Length: 24 21.0
Sentence Length SD: 9.333 7.5
Use of Discourse Markers (%): 0.55 0.12
Sentence-Text Coherence: 0.362 0.35
Sentence-Para Coherence: 0.541 0.50
Sentence-Sentence Coherence: 0.106 0.07
Number of Paragraphs: 5 5