Shannon+Brownlee+-+Response

Reading Questions for Shannon Brownlee's "Can't Do Without Love"
 * 1) For whom has Brownlee intended her essay? The general public? Technicians? Experts? Executives? What about the essays has led you to draw this conclusion?
 * This essay seems to have been written for the general public. There are a few aspects that have led me to come to this conclusion. First of all, Brownlee explains everything she states. Whether it is a definition or a simple statement it is explained. For instance, she first introduces the chemical oxytocin in paragraph three and describes its function. The experiments offered as evidence were very simple, a matter of injecting the nuerotransmitter and recording the behavior. Secondly, her general tone over this article, it is informative and yet easy going. She does not force the information nor her ideaology upon the reader. She allows us to read her information and take from it what we may. Ideally hoping that it is her perspective. examples of her tone would be in the introduction and concluding sentence. She akes it appealing to the public, thus drawing them in.
 * 1) Brownlee's thesis is located in paragraph four (4). Focusing only on what she has written in paragraph four, what do you think Brownlee wants to demonstrate to her readers in the body of her informative article.
 * cut your response in here
 * While scientists commonly reduce human biology to a set of deterministic patterns of chemically induced reactions to environmental stimuli, investigations in the phenomenology of love demonstrate that humanity is more dynamic and complex than scientists think, especially with respect to humans' abilities to empathize with fellow man.
 * In paragraph four Brownlee wants to demonstrate to her audience that the magic of love can be explained through biochemistry. Brownlee wants to explain how bioligists' efforts underscore the emotion's importance. By breaking down the emotions experienced by mammals into dry facts of our biology, can show us certain chemicals that trigger love. Some of these chemicals allow us to be good to each other and instinctly forces us to nurture, protect and creates emotional sensations which can lead to sex.
 * 1) Now look back over the body of Brownlee's essay. If the body of the essay does not carry out the thesis, is the problem more with the thesis paragraph (because it does not reflect a new and better direction in the body) or with the body (because it wanders)? If you identify places in the essay where Brownlee's article fails to support her thesis, what would you do to improve the overall unity of Brownlee's article.
 * Brownlee's essay carries out evidence of her thesis throughout her essay. The thesis states that love is linked to biology and allows us to feel certain emotions to different individuals. Scientific as well as emotional states of a human's persona allow people to act in loving situations under different circumstances. The paragraphs throughout her essay use different experiments and facts to back up her thesis statement. This allows her work to be percieved and proven by a wide audience and leave little to no questions on why she migrated throughout the essay the way she did.
 * On a nearly consistent basis, Brownlee manages to balance each paragraph in a manner that supports her thesis that love is a mixture of both factual scientific knowledge and intangible emotional phenomena. Each paragraph or grouping of paragraphs that presents a new piece of scientific information supporting or refuting aspects of love and sexuality is concluded with at the very least a tertiary nod twords the emotional side of love. As a result Brownlee's article is paletable to a wide audience; the "touchy feely people" and the more factual scientific readers. This balance in the article helps to re-inforce the thesis and support the general idea that love, while based in many biological facts, is still in many ways a mystery.
 * 1) Introductions are supposed to warm reader's up to a given topic and, more importantly, to find points where the writer's position is related to the reader's experience, interests, or knowledge. What does Brownlee do in the introduction to warm her reader's up to the her topic.
 * cut your response in here
 * In Brownlee's article "Can't Do Without Love" she starts off her introduction with saying what love does. "Love has toppled kings, inspires poets, sparked wars, soothed beasts...". (pg. 295 Brownlee) The first sentence states something that everyone knows, we have read the Shakespere's plays, and great love poems. The transition from the reader's experience back to the writer's postion is smooth, and lets the readers into her world slowly, so that she does not frighten them away. She lets her knowledge out in bits and pieces, while trying to maintain a language that her readers can understand and follow.
 * Brownlee warms up her audience by relating the science of sexual attraction to important and approchable subjects in history. She then goes on to explain her understanding of nuerotransmitters in terms of the every day expiriences of her readers. The idea of universiality is brought up between modern humans, prehistorical humans and the animal kingdom showing how important biochemical understanding of love is to the world.
 * 1) Examine how Shannon Brownlee uses evidence to support her points and where she uses no evidence in support of her points. Having done this, identify those points that seem to contain reliable information and, then, those that seem inadequately supported. Be able to explain why certain points seem either well or inadequately supported.
 * In Brownlee's article "Can't Do Without Love", she makes several points. She quotes Sue Carter who says "The study of love tells us that we have as biology that allows us to be good to each other." (295) As an infant, and a mother, a bond forms that compares to no other. The chemical known as oxytocin helps make this relationship even stronger. This chemical serves as a neurotransmitter which helps to guide behavior in the upbringing of a child. Mothers become sensitive to not just their child, but to the others around them due to the high amounts of oxytocin. Another point given by Brownlee involved prairie voles, or small rodents that always want to be with another. This specific example involves a male and female being appealing to one another, and due to lack of oxytocin, the female loses interest. A hormone, known as vasopressin, works together with the oxytocin. Due to this hormone, the male guards his family against any who oppose.
 * Brownlee uses reliable information when citing the studies by Barry Keverne on talapoin monkeys. While she doesn't give specific citation the reader can assume a primatologist from Cambridge University of England would be able to give good information on the topic. But when she is discussing the vagus nerve she uses a lot of 'Porges says' without giving his title or discipline. For all we know he could be the gardener of the University of Maryland. A lot of the information about the vagus nerve could be scientific fact, but she is giving the information in a way that seems like it is an opinion from Stephen Porges.
 * 1) In a second pass through the article, make note of where Brownlee makes the scientific findings that she reports about sound conclusive, and where she uses language that qualifies certain findings. Having noted the presence or absence of qualifying language when reporting the scientific findings, what overall impression about the validity or conclusiveness of the findings are you as a reader left with? In your estimate, how trustworthy is Brownlee's information.
 * Brownlee uses many scientific language throughout the article. The article does seem to have some validity to it. The article is written in a form for general audiences to understand. However, the article still uses appropriate language to suggest that the findings of the research mentioned is conclusive. The article uses particular scientific language associated with the research, but also takes the time to explain what the terms mean. This allows a general audience to have a better understanding of the article. Brownlee's information does seem to be trustworthy. The research is all associated with people at well known universities.
 * Brownlee begins to use scientific language when she states scientific finds and/or principles. In paragraph six, her references of experiments that show oxytocin's effects effectively conclude her claims on maternal nature. Her description of Vasopressin also simplifies biochemistry for the layman.
 * Select one passage from Brownlee's article that seems either inadequately supported or overly conclusive and explain what you would do to support the passage or make it appear more credible.
 * 1) ** Paragraph 13 asserts scientific principles without addressing the experiments that demonstrate the biochemical principles she uses. She writes "...it's not unlikely that human lovers and friends enjoy a soothing surge of endorphins, when they meet--and miss that feeling when separated"(297). She relies purely on conjecture from her own opinions rather than cite experiments. Without a more thorough discussion of endorphins, Brownlee fails to support he claim that endorphins can chemically represent friendship.
 * Another personal opinion she relies on throughout the article is, " Love has toppled kings, inspired poets, sparked wars, soothed beasts, and changed the course of history. It is credited for life's greatest joys, blamed for the most crushing sorrows." I would insert a few more statistical data to further support his argument.
 * 1) Does Brownlee use language that is appropriate for her nonacademic audience? Identify instances where she is particularly successful in writing for her nonacademic audience. What might you do in your forthcoming essay to achieve a similar degree of success.
 * Brownlee takes potentially hard to understand concepts, like oxytocin or endorphins, and either explains them over the course of a few paragraphs, like with oxytocin, or puts them into basic terms, like with endorphins. Oxytocin was explained in parts, building upon what was previously said about it, making it easily understandable. This is something I plan to do in my essay; all the information in the world is useless if the reader can't understand the jargon used to explain it.
 * Brownlee uses appropriate language that corresponds to her audience throughout the article including Vasopressin. Although most of the words are complicated, Brownlee does a great job further explaining each word to her audience to have them fully understand everything.
 * 1) Knowing that you have to write a critique that takes as its topic the issue of brain chemistry and love/sex, identify keywords in both Brownlee's and Helen Fisher's articles that you think you might use in a search of scholarly science journals on the issue of brain chemistry and love/sex.
 * Some keywords that might be helpful in a scholarly seach of each article would be;(Love,emotion,biochemistry,body,science, realationships,sex,oxytocin, vasopressin, vagus nerve, erotic/platinic, mammals, evolutionary psychology, motherhood, brain, nuerology, behavior, biology)