#18 - Pharmacist: A large study of people aged 65-81

[Dancingbambarina]

Hi,

Just to clear up, does causality in the premises essentially mean causality will not be tested but something else? I know causality in the conclusion is prime for causal testing. But Causality in the premises means causality is not tested right?

Also, Causality is present here both in the premises AND the conclusion, so how would one decipher in this particular instance of causality in both?

Thank you so much

[Adam Tyson]

We generally don't question the premises, so we can accept the causal claim in the premise in this argument. The conclusion implies something causal - aging causes a reduction in production of melatonin - which we can question. But in this case, the conclusion isn't relying on a correlation and getting cause and effect mixed up, as answer D suggests, nor is it about intentions, as answer A suggests, since the pineal gland probably doesn't choose to do what it does with any intention. We can attack this causal conclusion by attacking the data on which it's based, and "unrepresentative sample" attacks that data very effectively.