Michael E. Castillo
Armstrong
Rhet/Comp II
October 1, 2014
Human Nature Critique
In his article, "Human Nature", investigative historian Mark Dowie argues the fact that people’s ideas of what nature and wilderness completely invalidate the true meaning of what nature really is. His main claim is that the western way of thinking about wilderness and nature as separate from humanity has led to environmental destruction and ethnic cleansing. In the beginning of the article, Dowie introduces the way these different photographers have created a myth of "nature" through their pictures of places that are "absent of humans" to give society a distorted interpretation of what nature is or looks like. He continues his article by involving
Dowie's use of these interviews assist him very much in gaining credibility because of the first person point of view response that successfully supports his main claim.
Next, similar to Dowie's use of testimonies to support his claim, secondary sources are also sufficient by continuing the basis of his argument. One of the most important secondary source he uses in the essay are the multiple quotes scattered throughout it. What is so significant about these quotes is that each of them contain a sufficient amount of information that clearly advocate the ideas and continue the flow of the essay as a whole. Each quote is placed where it is to explain what exactly will be discussed in the paragraphs around or after the quote. What is helpful for Dowie is that they help the readers get a better understanding of the flow of ideas from reading the article and having the chance to look at each quote for assistance. The audience is already into the argument due to the fact that Dowie uses the word "our" to be able to address everyone, including himself, and not point anyone out. With the quotes Dowie is able to address ideas more clearly. Each quote plays the role of something like a topic sentence, or very small summary of the upcoming passage. One thing that does not completely support Dowie is that each of the quotes do not introduce