Argument 7

TOPIC: ARGUMENT7 - The following appeared in a letter to the editor of the Clearview newspaper.
"In the next mayoral election, residents of Clearview should vote for Ann Green, who is a member of the Good Earth Coalition, rather than for Frank Braun, a member of the Clearview town council, because the current members are not protecting our environment. For example, during the past year the number of factories in Clearview has doubled, air pollution levels have increased, and the local hospital has treated 25 percent more patients with respiratory illnesses. If we elect Ann Green, the environmental problems in Clearview will certainly be solved." WORDS: 339 TIME: 00:30:00 DATE: 2008-4-1 19:06:39

In this argument, the verdict is that the environment problems in Clearview will surely be solved if Ann Green wins the mayoral election. To support this conclusion, the speaker chiefly argues that Ann is devoted to protecting environment, and that a myriad of environment issues including pollution and more patients with respiratory illnesses appear under the lead of Frank Braun. However, close scrutiny of evidence unveils that this statement actually suffers from several critical blemishes, as discussed below.

To begin with, albeit Ann is a member of the Good Earth Coalition, whether Ann will make great contributions to Clearview town is unknown. Perhaps Ann just says he or she will work effectively to ameliorate local environment, but no practical deeds have been fulfilled. Besides, the speaker also does not mention whether Frank Braun, the current mayor, has policing some policies to prevent natural circumstance from being destroyed. Lacking enough information about environment laws at present would undermine the speaker's conclusion.

Secondly, the credibility of the three phenomena the speaker cites in this statement is quite questionable. First, the number of factories in Clearview has doubled does not necessarily imply that these factories has no doubt caused pollution. It is highly possible that chief executives of factories have adopted powerful environment-friendly methods that will not pollute river, grass, air, etc. Secondly, increased air pollution levels may be caused by corporations in nearby cities, because air easily moves around. Thirdly, the actual reason why incidences of respiratory illnesses have increased by 25 percent is known. It is quite probable that certain flu happened last year caused the improvement of patients. Without considering these potential factors, the speaker is too cursory to arrives his or her ultimateness.

In summary, this statement indeed suffers from a few crucial fallacies as discussed above. To solidify the conclusion, the arguer would have to demonstrate that Frank Braun displays an aloof attitude toward environment, and further prove that the current air pollution and increased patients with respiratory illnesses is indeed caused by larger number of factories.