Jump to content
Urch Forums

Help --- GRE Argument "Woven Baskets non unique to Palean"


Recommended Posts

Please help grade my essay below. I basically have no idea whether what I wrote makes sense in the English-speaking grader's eyes. Help ~any comments are welcomed :D

 

ARGUMENT 1 (New Indexing)

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.

 

WORDS: 633

TIME: 00:57:00

DATE: 08/25/2011

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------

 

In this argument, the author comes to the conclusion that the “Palean” baskets were not uniquely Palean. To justify the claim, the author points out that a recent discovery of a “Palean” basket in Lithos is not made by Paleans due to the deep and broad Brim River which the author believes isolates Village Lithos from Paleans. To support his intermediate claim of the Brim River blockade, the author assumes that the only way for the Paleans to cross the Brim River is by boats, the transportation equipment that have never been found. Close scrutiny of this argument, however, reveals that it is unconvincing in several aspects.

 

First and formost, the mere fact that no Pelean boats have been found amounts to scant evidence that the Paleans do not have boat fabrication ability. It is quite possible that the Paleans were indeed cabable of making boats, but their boat remains are not found yet, or perhaps the boat remains have all decayed that it would be impossible to find any traces of Paleans boats nowadays. Moreover, even if the Paleans themselves were unable to make boats, it does not prove that the Paleans could not obtain some boats from other group of people, either by trading or renting. Since the author does not provide clear evidence to prove the inability of Palean’s boat making at their time and the impossibility of Palean’s alternative way of boat acquisition, the author can not safely claim that the Palean’s could not cross the Brim River by boats.

 

Secondly, even if the Paleans were not able to make or obtain boats during their time, the author unfairly assumes that the Paleans can arrive at Village Lithos only by boats. After all, there are many ways for the Paleans to cross a river, no matter how deep or broad it is. For example, the ancient Paleans could simply utilize some large wood pieces to cross the Brim River. Or they might cross the river during the winter when the water was low or even disappeared at certain locations along the Brim River. Without ruling out all these and other possible methods of crossing Brim River, the author can not convince me that the Paleans have to cross the Brim river by boats.

 

Finally, the author’s hidden assumption that if the “Palean” basket lies somewhere it must be brought there by the Paleans otherwise it is not made by the Paleans is not supported by any evidence. Perhaps it’s the Lithos people that brought the “Palean” baskets made by the Paleans to their village. Even if the Paleans were incapable of making their own boats and they are unable to cross the Brim river, it does not indicate that the Lithos people could not. The Lithos people might well have adequate boats for them to trade with the Paleans on the other side of the Brim River, and they might well exchange their products with the Paleans for the “Palean” baskets and brought them back to Lithos, which were discovered by archaeologists recently. The author’s failure of ruling out the non-Palean basket-delivering scenario renders his conclusion based upon it highly suspect.

 

In sum, the conclusion reached in this argument is invalid and misleading. To make it logically acceptable, the arguer would have to substantiate that the Paleans were indeed unable to make boats nor could they obtain boats from other groups and that using boats is the only way for the Paleans to cross the Brim River. Moreover, I would suspend my judgement about the credibility of this argument until the author can provide further information about whether it is the Lithos people who brought the “Palean” basket to their village, even though the “Palean” basket was still made the by Paleans uniquely.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Restore formatting

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

×
×
  • Create New...