Argument

Trends

In matters of any complexity involving numbers and trends, it is easy to lose sight of the big picture—and many verbal arguments are constructed in a way that encourages those listening to the arguments to lose sight of the big picture.

Example:

Even many of those who support the proposed global warming treaty say that it will cost jobs in industries ranging from oil and gas to mining to automobile manufacturing—perhaps hundreds of thousands of jobs. We cannot afford to let our economy shrink; it is essential that we oppose ratification of this treaty.

 

Note that no estimate is given of the number of jobs that would in this sort of situation be created (in industries such as solar and wind power) or of jobs that would be saved (for example at ski resorts) if strong action were taken against global warming. Some have suggested that the economy in general would grow just as fast if such action were taken. Others have estimated it would grow more slowly, but few have suggested it would actually shrink. Here, as in many other cases, it is important to be aware of distinctions between a decline, a decline in the rate of increase, and so on.

Relevance

It is often much more difficult than one would think to judge what is relevant or irrelevant to a given argument.

Example:

"I don't agree with the arguments of the animal rights activists. Before we worry about any troubles the animals might have, we should take care of the problems that people have."

The argument here may seem at first glance quite powerful, but in fact the claims being made are entirely irrelevant to all but one of the arguments put forward by animal rights activists. The argument here says nothing as to the inductive claims made by these activists about the prevalence of cruelty to animals in factory farming, for example, nor does it address the argument from first principles that it is wrong to cause unnecessary pain to other creatures.

The only argument that it does address is the claim that we should pay some attention to the plight of animals, even while we are also attempting to address human problems. There are no doubt legitimate arguments of a variety of sorts to be made concerning the priority we should give to the plight of animals in relation to to the plight of humans who are suffering. But that is not the question this argument purports to be addressing.

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