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stanleyeales
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This is my first essay in the series of essays I am going to write for AWA practice. Please critique the analysis if possible.
Analysis of Argument
1. The following appeared as part of an annual report sent to stockholders by Olympic
Foods, a processor of frozen foods.
"Over time, the costs of processing go down because as organizations learn how to do things better, they become more efficient. In color film processing, for example, the cost of a 3-by-5-inch print fell from 50 cents for five-day service in 1970 to 20 cents for one-day service in 1984. The same principle applies to the processing of food. And since Olympic Foods will soon celebrate its twenty-fifth birthday, we can expect that our long experience will enable us to minimize costs and thus maximize profits."
Discuss how well reasoned you find this argument. In your discussion be sure to analyze the line of reasoning and the use of evidence in the argument. For example, you may need to consider what questionable assumptions underlie the thinking and what alternative explanations or counterexamples might weaken the conclusion. You can also discuss what sort of evidence would strengthen or refute the argument, what changes in the argument would make it more logically sound, and what, if anything, would help you better evaluate its conclusion.
Notwithstanding the evidence provided in the argument, this argument is rendered weak due to several reasons. The argument draws its conclusion through principle of induction. It is inductively bold to draw conclusion from only one instance, especially when it is extrapolated to a loosely related field. In this example, the case of color film processing is used to draw a general conclusion that is then boldly applied to food processing.
The first consideration is the analogy drawn. One of popular examples of the structure of author's argument is the argument of watchmaker: Watch is analogous to universe because both are complicated and finely structured; Hence, since every watch has a watchmaker, the universe must also have a maker whom we know as God. The argument presented here is fallacious in the same way, even more so because it does not even establish why color photography industry is comparable to food processing industry.
Moreover, the maxim, "the costs of processing go down because as organizations learn how to do things better, they become more efficient", that is used to tell the stakeholders why the prices in of color photography industry went down is unwarranted. There might be other reasons for this price slash such as introduction of new technology or lower cost of machinery that might not be true for every industry. It may be the case that new technology that increases productivity in food processing companies also increases the cost of production.
Also consider the case in which laws are amended to include stringent food quality norms. The cost may well go up because the food processing industry would be forced to improve quality and hence buy new machinery or train its labor.
Further, the gap between minimizing cost of processing and minimizing costs must be explained. Processing costs are not the only costs that a company would incur and hence unless other costs are taken into account, the conclusion "minimize costs and maximize profits" will be rendered possible as opposed to necessary.
To strengthen the conclusion, the author must describe why the case of color photography is comparable to food processing and also why he or she doesn't think that external forces can affect the cost of processing. He must also introduce a premise to tell the stakeholders that processing costs form the major part of all costs.
Analysis of Argument
1. The following appeared as part of an annual report sent to stockholders by Olympic
Foods, a processor of frozen foods.
"Over time, the costs of processing go down because as organizations learn how to do things better, they become more efficient. In color film processing, for example, the cost of a 3-by-5-inch print fell from 50 cents for five-day service in 1970 to 20 cents for one-day service in 1984. The same principle applies to the processing of food. And since Olympic Foods will soon celebrate its twenty-fifth birthday, we can expect that our long experience will enable us to minimize costs and thus maximize profits."
Discuss how well reasoned you find this argument. In your discussion be sure to analyze the line of reasoning and the use of evidence in the argument. For example, you may need to consider what questionable assumptions underlie the thinking and what alternative explanations or counterexamples might weaken the conclusion. You can also discuss what sort of evidence would strengthen or refute the argument, what changes in the argument would make it more logically sound, and what, if anything, would help you better evaluate its conclusion.
Notwithstanding the evidence provided in the argument, this argument is rendered weak due to several reasons. The argument draws its conclusion through principle of induction. It is inductively bold to draw conclusion from only one instance, especially when it is extrapolated to a loosely related field. In this example, the case of color film processing is used to draw a general conclusion that is then boldly applied to food processing.
The first consideration is the analogy drawn. One of popular examples of the structure of author's argument is the argument of watchmaker: Watch is analogous to universe because both are complicated and finely structured; Hence, since every watch has a watchmaker, the universe must also have a maker whom we know as God. The argument presented here is fallacious in the same way, even more so because it does not even establish why color photography industry is comparable to food processing industry.
Moreover, the maxim, "the costs of processing go down because as organizations learn how to do things better, they become more efficient", that is used to tell the stakeholders why the prices in of color photography industry went down is unwarranted. There might be other reasons for this price slash such as introduction of new technology or lower cost of machinery that might not be true for every industry. It may be the case that new technology that increases productivity in food processing companies also increases the cost of production.
Also consider the case in which laws are amended to include stringent food quality norms. The cost may well go up because the food processing industry would be forced to improve quality and hence buy new machinery or train its labor.
Further, the gap between minimizing cost of processing and minimizing costs must be explained. Processing costs are not the only costs that a company would incur and hence unless other costs are taken into account, the conclusion "minimize costs and maximize profits" will be rendered possible as opposed to necessary.
To strengthen the conclusion, the author must describe why the case of color photography is comparable to food processing and also why he or she doesn't think that external forces can affect the cost of processing. He must also introduce a premise to tell the stakeholders that processing costs form the major part of all costs.
