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34. The following appeared as part of a plan proposed by an executive of the Easy Credit Company to the president.
“The Easy Credit Company would gain an advantage over competing credit card services if we were to donate a portion of the proceeds from the use of our cards to a well-known environmental organization in exchange for the use of its symbol or logo on our card. Since a recent poll shows that a large percentage of the public is concerned about environmental issues, this policy would attract new customers, increase use among existing customers, and enable us to charge interest rates that are higher than the lowest ones available.”
The conclusion approved in this argument is that if the Easy Credit Company adopt a new policy,it will earn more interest rates that are higher than the lowest ones available.The basis for this argument is that a recent poll shows the new policy can contribute to the environment conserned by a large number of people.At first glance,the argument seems to be appealing in one way or another.However,we do not need to look very far to see how inrational this argument is.After a attentive analysis, we can cognize this argument commits several logical faults that are addressed below.
In the first place,the author unfairly assumes that donating a symbol or logo of well-known environmental organization can contribute to attrack new customers,increase use among existing customers and enable the Easy Credit Company charge interest rates that are higher than the lowest ones available.However ,the assumption is questionable because the author provides no evidence to support this argument.The arguer fails to take into account other facts that might contribute to the result that The Easy Credit Company will have more customers and charge higher interest rates.It is likely that The Easy Credit Company can focus on business other than environment.It is alos likely ,though the most people in public are concerned about the environment, they seldom really care about whether the logo of a credit card is about environment.Any of these factors ,if true,would show that the donation of the logo or symbol of an famous environment organization can be useless to The Easy Credit Company.Therefore,this argument is unwarranted without ruling out such possibility.
In the second place, a possible methodology problem in this argument is that of bias. At first place, the term 'a large percentage of the public' is too vague to be statistically meaningful. Even if by 'a large percentage of the public' the author means 'nearly all', perhaps responders who were more interested than others in the survey might be more likely to respond to the questionnaire-possibly because they found the questionnaire more meaningful. Lacking in the information about the number of people surveyed and the number of respondents, it is impossible to assess the validity of the survey. For instance, if 1000 persons were surveyed but only 10 responded, the result should be highly suspect. Because the author fails to account for other interpretations such as this, the survey would be useless in concluding that.
In the third place, the methodology of the survey is problematic for two reasons.For one thing ,we are not informed whether the survey provided only 2 alternatives.If it did,the respondents ,who might very well prefer another choice not provided in the survey,might be forced to give up their preferences.For another thing ,we are not informed whether the responses favored by their superior who might conduct the sury.Both events would lead this survey unreliable,let alone about drawing the conclusion .
To conclude.since the author commits above mentioned logical mistakes and fails to consider the whole situation comprehensively,his ideas should not be adopted.The author fails to provide adequate justification for the conclusion.As it stands,the reasoning does not constitute a logical argument in favor of the conclusion.To make this argument logically acceptable,the author would have to show more precise information to support his claim that donating a symbol or logo of a famous environment can lead to capture more customers.In addition to solidify the conclusion, the author should provide concrete evidence as well to demonstrate that the information concerning poll is confirmable.Only with more convincing evidence could this argument become more than just an emotional appeal.
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发表于 2005-9-7 20:15:00
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