A planning consultant to the Banbridge Riverfront Festival Committee made the following recommendation to the committee.
“The Riverfront Festival drew 10,000 visitors — not bad for your first year. You should double that number, however, by bringing in the Jolly Pirate Ship. In St. Clyde, the Harbor Week Festival averaged 30,000 visitors per year over the last decade, but the attendance reached a high point of 45,000 a couple of years ago, when the Jolly Pirate was at the Harbor Week Festival. One of the organizers reported that the ship was especially popular with school groups. Have the Jolly Pirate Ship sail into the Riverfront Festival next summer, and your festival will be much more successful.
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In this argument, the author claims that the Riverfront Festival should double the number of ten thousand visitors by bringing in the Jolly Pirate Ship. In order to buttress the conclusion, the author cites the evidence that the Harbor Week Festival experienced a increase after bringing in the Jolly Pirate Ship in the past. At first glance, the conclusion seems to be convincing, but a careful examination can reveal several flaws as following.
In the first place, the author commits a fallacy of causal oversimplification. The author assumes that the increase in the number of visitors to Harbor Week Festival was caused only by the Jolly Pirate Ship. But no evidence was shown to support the assumption; mere the coincidence of the two events cannot mean a causal relationship of them. There are still other important factors, such as improvement in management and more friendly staff, have great impact on the increase in the number of tourists. Therefore, the assumption cannot be used as a source of conclusion unless other crucial factors are considered and ruled out.
In the second place, the author reaches the conclusion based on the assumption that the Riverfront Festival and the Harbor Week Festival are analogous in all aspects. But the author demonstrates no empirical evidence to valid the assumption. Common sense tells us that it is impossible that two companies are the same in all aspects. Consequently, the author cannot base the conclusion on the false analogy unless he or she can show the fact that the two companies are exactly the same.
Finally, the author commits a fallacy of “all things are equal”. The author supposes that the situation is the same as it was in the past. Even though the Harbor Week Festival achieved the success by bringing in the Jolly Pirate Ship, it is not certain that the Riverfront Festival can also succeed in increasing the number of visitors by doing so. Thus, the author should consider some changes as time goes by.
In conclusion, the author fails to reach the conclusion because he bases it on the causal oversimplification and false analogy. To make the conclusion more plausible, the author should consider comprehensively and rule out all other possibilities that can invalid the evidence shown, and demonstrates that the two companies are exactly the same.
[此贴子已经被作者于2005-9-17 20:42:04编辑过] |