Argument:
The following advice was given to a politician by his political consultant: "It is true that 200 apartment renters protested in the rain about the elimination of rent control regulation. However, there are 20,000 renters in the entire city. 19,800 of them stayed home and did not protest. The group that did not protest is much larger and better represents the opinion of renters throughout the city that the elimination of rent control is not a problem. You should not let the small protest discourage you."
Describe how well reasoned you find this argument. In the 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 argument's conclusion. You may also address possible changes in the argument that would make it more logically sound, and what, if anything, would help you better evaluate its conclusion.
My Essay:
The above paragraph states that a political consultant advised a politician to ignore the protesters of the rent control regulation. Although, the conclusion of political consultant might be true, it lacks evidence and support, therefore its argument remains seriously flawed with low credibility.
The primary concern with the above argument, is that we don't know how many people would have actually protested the rent control regulation if it didn't rain. Therefore, the actual number of people who oppose the referenced regulation might be greater than 200. In addition, we do not know in what day of the week or what season the apartment renters protested. If the protest was held in a working day, Monday through Friday, then again most of the people are working and were not able to attend the protest. Therefore, we do not clear data regarding the number of people who would have attended the protest.
Furthermore, a secondary flaw of this argument is the assumption that the only way the renters protest is going out and protest on the streets. They might use various ways to show their unhappiness with the regulation. For example, some renters could be collecting signatures as a method of showing their disapproval. We cannot know the gravity of this issue based on a single protest. The political consultant doesn't bring any evidence, such as statistics and surveys that would show that most of the renters have no problem with the rent control regulation.
However, although this is not a strong argument, it is possible that the political consultant might be right. The rental control regulation might not be a big problem. But in order to strengthen the argument, he could bring some additional data, such as: is this the first protest regarding the rent control regulation, if no then how many people did protest before, around 200 or more, also, are there any other actions taken against this regulation? One cannot form an opinion based on a single event, in this case a single protest. Therefore, additional research and statistics are necessary before forming an opinion.
Ultimately, the advice given by the political consultant might be the correct one, but due to lack of supporting data, one cannot agree with an argument which appears to be constructed on assumptions. Therefore, the argument remains weak and open for debate.
Thanks!
The following advice was given to a politician by his political consultant: "It is true that 200 apartment renters protested in the rain about the elimination of rent control regulation. However, there are 20,000 renters in the entire city. 19,800 of them stayed home and did not protest. The group that did not protest is much larger and better represents the opinion of renters throughout the city that the elimination of rent control is not a problem. You should not let the small protest discourage you."
Describe how well reasoned you find this argument. In the 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 argument's conclusion. You may also address possible changes in the argument that would make it more logically sound, and what, if anything, would help you better evaluate its conclusion.
My Essay:
The above paragraph states that a political consultant advised a politician to ignore the protesters of the rent control regulation. Although, the conclusion of political consultant might be true, it lacks evidence and support, therefore its argument remains seriously flawed with low credibility.
The primary concern with the above argument, is that we don't know how many people would have actually protested the rent control regulation if it didn't rain. Therefore, the actual number of people who oppose the referenced regulation might be greater than 200. In addition, we do not know in what day of the week or what season the apartment renters protested. If the protest was held in a working day, Monday through Friday, then again most of the people are working and were not able to attend the protest. Therefore, we do not clear data regarding the number of people who would have attended the protest.
Furthermore, a secondary flaw of this argument is the assumption that the only way the renters protest is going out and protest on the streets. They might use various ways to show their unhappiness with the regulation. For example, some renters could be collecting signatures as a method of showing their disapproval. We cannot know the gravity of this issue based on a single protest. The political consultant doesn't bring any evidence, such as statistics and surveys that would show that most of the renters have no problem with the rent control regulation.
However, although this is not a strong argument, it is possible that the political consultant might be right. The rental control regulation might not be a big problem. But in order to strengthen the argument, he could bring some additional data, such as: is this the first protest regarding the rent control regulation, if no then how many people did protest before, around 200 or more, also, are there any other actions taken against this regulation? One cannot form an opinion based on a single event, in this case a single protest. Therefore, additional research and statistics are necessary before forming an opinion.
Ultimately, the advice given by the political consultant might be the correct one, but due to lack of supporting data, one cannot agree with an argument which appears to be constructed on assumptions. Therefore, the argument remains weak and open for debate.
Thanks!
