Argument71 [Jet小姐]第六次作业

michaelxuywUID: 2330197

argument 71.Copper occurs in nature mixed with other minerals and valuable metals in ore, and the proportion of copper in the ore can vary considerably. Until fairly recently, the only way to extract pure copper from ore was by using a process that requires large amounts of electric energy, especially if the proportion of copper in the ore is low. New copper-extracting technologies can use up to 40 percent less electricity than the older method to process the same amount of raw ore, especially when the proportion of copper in the ore is high. Therefore, we can expect the amount of electricity used by the copper-extraction industry to decline significantly.

time: 60minutes

The speaker of of this argument asserts that a great amount of electricity consumed by the copper-extraction industry will be saved by using a new technologies. However, the assetion is fallacious for it's two implicit assumption are faulty.

Firstly, one assumption the speaker made to support his or her point is that all the ore used as input to the copper-extraction operation is raw ones. However, this assumption is far from defensible as no evidence is provided to show that this is always the case. Thus, we have reasons to suspect the potential huge save of electricity for staticstics is achieved by comparing the amount of electricity consumed when process the same amount of raw ore. Perhaps, the ore has been processed before sent to the extraction machine, and with some of the other material been eleminated, the margin of the saved electiricity will not be as attractive as it stands.

The second faulty assumption which makes the expectation meaningless is that the proportion of copper in the ore is always high. The maximal save of electricity is achieved only when the proportion of copper is high, however, as the argument shows the proportion of copper in the can vary considerably, no one can gurantee 40 percent save. It is possible that when the proportion of copper is low, the new technology can only help save 10 percent or even lower advantage. Without further statistics to clarify the exact save of electricity at every possible proportion of copper in ore, any expectation of huge save is far more optimistic.

In sum, two faulty assumptions the speaker made compromises the validity and credibility of this argument. To make it reasonable, the speaker is obliged to provide supporting evidence which confirm type of ore which used as input and detailed statistics in order to obtain the precise amount of electricity which can be saved.

[ 本帖最后由 michaelxuyw 于 2008-2-15 02:50 编辑 ]

LITTERBOULDERUID: 2367811

argument主要就是逻辑问题。这篇的漏洞找的太少了点吧。如果就两点的话，展开部分就要多些。