argument65 【米国有米－第5次作业】

joochangUID: 2265219

TOPIC: ARGUMENT65 - The following appeared in a memo from the president of a chain of cheese stores located throughout the United States.

"For many years all the stores in our chain have stocked a wide variety of both domestic and imported cheeses. Last year, however, the five best-selling cheeses at our newest store were all domestic cheddar cheeses from Wisconsin. Furthermore, a recent survey by Cheeses of the World magazine indicates an increasing preference for domestic cheeses among its subscribers. Since our company can reduce expenses by limiting inventory, the best way to improve profits in all of our stores is to discontinue stocking many of our varieties of imported cheese and concentrate primarily on domestic cheeses."
WORDS: 446          DATE: 2006-12-15

The argument above present a relatively sound case for arguing that the best way to improve profits in all of cheeses stores is to stop stocking many varieties of imported cheese and concentrate primarily on domestic cheeses. To substantiate this conclusion, the arguer asserts that the five best-selling cheeses at their newest store were all domestic cheeses last year. The arguer also cites a survey to support his conclusion. However, a careful scrutiny of this argument would reveal that it suffers from several fallacies and therefore is unconvincing.

First of all, the arguer cites the fact that the five best-selling cheeses at their newest store were all domestic cheeses from Wisconsin. However, the arguer fails to take the specificity of the cheddar cheeses from Wisconsin. One example is rarely to establish a general conclusion that all kinds of domestic cheeses may be popular to consumer. It is entirely possible that some other kinds of domestic cheeses are not as popular as Wisconsin cheddar cheeses. Unless it can be shown the quality of cheddar cheeses from Wisconsin is able to represent the quality of domestic cheeses, the conclusion that they should concentrate primarily on domestic cheeses is completely unwarranted.

In addition, the arguer fails to consider the inherent differences between the newest store and the other stores. Perhaps the same course of action would be ineffective on the other stores due to a myriad of differences, such as the store's decoration, geological differences, disparity in attitude of service, and so on. Thus, the newest store and the other stores establish an oversimplified analogy. Without accounting for these and other possible dissimilarities, the arguer cannot assume that the domestic cheeses in other stores would sell better.

Moreover, the arguer cites a result of recent survey. In order to evaluate the survey, we have to take into account how the survey was conducted. The survey was conducted by Cheeses of the World magazine, which may make the results open to doubt. It is highly possible that people who prefer to domestic cheeses were more inclined to respond to the questionnaire. On the other hand, lacking information about number of total people surveyed and the number of respondents, it is unjustifiable to assess the validity of the results. There are other problems about the representativeness and randomness of the survey's sample. Lacking such evidence the author cannot rely on the survey to draw any confirm conclusion.

In sum, the argument has several patent flaws that make it logically unpersuasive as it stands. To strengthen the argument, the arguer should provide more evidence to bolster his conclusion. Furthermore, to better assess the arguer's idea, we need more information about the survey.

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