Friday, September 10, 2010
changing an argument point to make it valid
Arguments are only valid if they include proven facts. Today one of my friends said that she has seen so many Volvos lately, and that it must be the best selling car on the street right now. Just because she said this does not make this a valid argument, it is simply an opinion. I could turn around and say that I have seen a lot of BMWs recently, and argue that since I have seen more BMWs than she has seen Volvos that those must actually be the best selling vehicle right now. Unless you have solid facts to back up your argument, it is not valid. You would be able to argue this if you did some research before, and actually found out that, in fact, Volvos sales had increased dramatically; then looked at sales of other cars and seen that all other car companies were not selling nearly as well. You would have a proven fact, and nobody could dispute otherwise. They could argue with you but it wouldn’t matter because they would have nothing to back their opinion up.
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Great post! The "begging the question" concept fits nicely with that argument your friend made because she assumed/claimed the conclusion was true in one of the premises. She didn't have any evidence whatsoever and it was easy to point out the possibility that Volvos aren't the best selling car on the street right now just be pointing out the abundance of another car. If she had the monthly sales of all the dealers in the area, she could make her argument stronger. However, that still isn't specific enough as someone from out of this area could drive their car around here, so really she would need the total car sales in California for each company. Being as specific as possible will help make an argument much more convincing.
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