Self-study
President of the Regional Chamber of Commerce: We are all aware of the painful fact that almost no new businesses have moved into our region or started up here over the last ten years. ███ ███ ████████ █████ ██ █████████ ██████ ██ █ █████ ████████████ ██ ███ ██████ ████████ ████ ██████████ ███ ███████ ███ ██████ ██ ███ ████ ██ █████ ████ █ █████ █████ ████ █████ ████ █████ ████ ████ █████ ███ ████████ ██████████ ██ ███ ███████ ██ ██ ████ ████ ██████ ███████ ██ ████ █ █████ ████ █████ ███ ████ ████ ████ ████ ████
Summarize Argument
The president claims the Planning Board's estimate that businesses are leaving the region at a rate of four per week is an exaggeration. He supports this by saying that since there were never more than about a thousand businesses in the region, and no new businesses have moved in over the last ten years, they would have all disappeared by now if that estimate were accurate.
Identify and Describe Flaw
The president assumes that the Planning Board’s estimate has been the case for a long period of time. But just because business are leaving the region at a rate of four per week doesn’t mean that they have been leaving at this rate for many months or years. If business only started leaving at this rate very recently, the president’s argument falls apart.
13.
The argument is most vulnerable ██ █████████ ██ ███ ██████ ████ ██
a
focuses on what ██ █████ ███ ██ █ ██████ █████ ████████ ███ █████ ██ ████ ██ ██████ ████ ███ ██████
The president doesn’t ignore the issue of what’s coming into the system. In fact, he explicitly states that “almost no new businesses have moved into our region or started up here over the last ten years.”
b
confuses a claim █████ █ ████ ██ ██████ ██████ █ ██████ ████ █ █████ █████ ███ ████████ ████ ██ ███ ██████
The argument addresses a claim about the rate of change and a claim about the absolute size of the system, but the president doesn’t confuse these claims. Instead, he uses a claim about absolute size to refute the claim about the rate of change.
c
argues against a ████████ ██████ ██ ███████ ████ ███ ████████ ██████ ███ ████████ ██ ███ ████████ █████
The president never claims that the Planning Board’s estimate serves their own interest.
d
treats a claim █████ ████ ██ █████████ ███ ████ ██ ██ ██ ████ █ █████ █████ ████ ███ ████ ███ ████ ███ ██ ████████ ██████
The president treats the claim that businesses are currently leaving the region at a rate of four per week as if it has been the case for an extended period of time. But perhaps businesses only began leaving at that rate very recently. If so, the president’s argument falls apart.
e
attacks what was ███████ ██ ██ ████████ ██ ███ ██████ ████ ██ ██ ███ ███████
The president never attacks the precision of the Planning Board’s estimate. Instead, he claims that the estimate is exaggerated.