Analysis of an Argument - Toothpaste

Analysis of an Argument

"Two of today's top-selling brands of whitening toothpaste,ShinyWhite and SparkleDent, are now available in extra-strength form. Dentists promote the use of regular-strength ShinyWhite 50% more than they promote the use of regular-strength SparkleDent, so people who want an effective whitening toothpaste in extra-strength form should choose ShinyWhite."

The argument is flawed in its conclusion to promote extra-strength SparkleDent based on the certification given to regular-strength SparkleDent. The argument is not comparing two things of same quality. Also, the argument retorts to the appeal of authority to substantiate its initial statement that regular-strength SparkleDent is better than regular-strength ShinyWhite.

The pamphlet does not provide the features or concrete test results between the performance of extra-strength ShinyWhite to that of SparkleDent. There is no evidence that these two toothpastes will perform the same way at different quality levels. Also, the recommendation should be personalized to different types of people. Some may not withstand an extra-strength toothpaste. For them, a statutory warning should be given as to what problems may occur due to an extra-strength toothpaste.

The pamphlet refers to the promotion of dentists who recommend the use of regular-strength ShinyWhite to that of SparkleDent. The pamphlet does not give any specifications about those doctors like their medical association affiliation, recognition by the government and the sampling is confined to a particular locality or does it talks about the country as a whole.

A certified doctor's association, which is accepted by both ShinyWhite and SparkleDent, should perform valid and concrete tests under different quantitative and qualitative levels. The tests should be done over adequate number of times to prevent any sampling error. Then the performance of these two tooth-pastes should be compared. With proper test results for regular and extra-strength category, the general public would be sane enough to choose themselves the toothpaste they would like to use.



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Analysis of an issue - Good vs Bad employee ?

Analysis of an issue

"The most important quality in an employee is not educational background or job proficiency; instead, the desire to be a part of a team separates a good employee from a bad employee."

A good employee is expected to have the right mix of education and interpersonal skills. Interpersonal skills are as important as the educational qualifications. However, interpersonal should not be taken as a lone factor in determining if an employee is good or bad. The important quality of an employee is how he optimizes his available skill set to add value to his employer's business.
Every employee starts afresh at some point in their career. As they progress through their career, they learn through experience. This experience adds value and polish the skills of the employee. The success of every employee is measure on the value he adds to the business of his employer over his tenure. Being academically strong or having good interpersonal skills alone wont be sufficient to bring out the result. The employee should be dynamic, motivated and be alert to the changes. To have these qualities one should be adept in learning from one's past experience. Right mix of academic and vocational skills helps an employee to achieve it. The importance of a skill may differ from job to job. An employee of aero science or nuclear science will be expected to be more proficient in his academic than his interpersonal skills. May be marketing managers should be more adept with his interpersonal skills than his academic credentials.
The employee should be able to look inside himself to identify the qualities he has, accept his weakness and try to optimize his skill sets so that he could be more productive. This quality of learning from the past successes and mistakes would be an important quality that would help him to sustain throughout his career as a good employee.

Analysis of an argument - Sales decline

Analysis of an argument

"The decrease in revenues that the company is experiencing coincides with declining automobile sales. This decline is due, in part, to a greater demand for energy-efficient vehicles that is not currently being met. Consider also that the manager of the department that handles research and development of energy-efficient parts does not have the background in either engineering or science. Therefore, the company should move the current research and development manager to another department, and bring in an engineer to fill the position."


The argument is flawed that the decline in automobile sales can be attributed to other factors apart from the demand of energy-efficient vehicles. Greater demand for energy-efficient vehicles is just a part of the cause. Also, there may be other companies that could provide energy-efficient vehicle parts. The report talks as if the company under consideration holds a monopoly over the energy-efficient vehicle parts which is not substantiated at all. Attributing the inefficiency of the company to meet demand for energy-efficient part to the decline in auto sales is flawed.
The report also asks for the transfer of manger taking only current report into consideration. The report does not talk about the past achievements of the manager. Also, it assumes that a manager who holds a degree in science or engineering would be more competent. However, it does not aver to the basic qualification of having expertise in energy-efficient vehicle parts.
the report does not talk about the quality of the energy-efficient vehicle parts, It does not refer to the quality being inferior. A research and development manager is accountable only to the quality and the sophistication of the product. Materials procurement, production and inventory management should be attributed to a production manager. So the request to transfer the current manager to another department is unreasonable and totally unjustified.

Analysis of an argument - Highway expansion

Analysis of an argument

"In addition last year of two lanes to the existing Highway 41 business loop in Hortonville was a mistake. Since the addition of lanes, arrests for traffic violations in downtown Hortonville have increased, and the homes located adjacent to the highway have decreased in value. Watertown should pay close attention to the example of Hortonville and oppose the proposed expansion of highway in Watertown."


The argument is flawed that its conclusion does not follow the evidence provided. The newspaper alludes to the correlation between traffic violations and the addition of lanes without discussing about the process that was put in place for traffic management. It also does not provide adequate proof that the reduction in home rates is due to the traffic snarls.
Before drawing parallels between Watertown and Hortonville highway, we must compare if both of them are indeed similar situations. The newspaper does not provide the vital statistics like population of humans and vehicles, peak hour traffic and rate of traffic violations. We must consider these information before we ought to compare the situations of both the highways.
We must also consider the effort put on traffic regulation after the highway was expanded in Hortonville. The increase in traffic snarls can also be attributed to poor traffic regulation. Also, the argument that the value of homes have decreased due to traffic snarls is flawed that the assumption of correlation proves causation. No concrete data was presented to support this assumption.
The extension of highway of Watertown should be properly planned with the help of statistical data pertaining to human and traffic population and peak hour traffic. The care that goes into the implementation of the project should also be given to the enforcement of the traffic regulations once the project is over. With proper planning, implementation and enforcement, extension of Watertown highway can be a success.


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Analysis of an Issue - Parent support vs child support.

Analysis of an Issue

"We shepherd our children into adulthood and later they shepherd us into old age."

A parent's obligation is to provide proper education, nourishment and protection for his child. However, a parent should never count on the reciprocation of the same from his child after his old age.
As a new born child, he is totally helpless by himself in this world. It neither has the brains not the muscles to venture out in this world and take care of himself. It is a moral obligation for a parent to provide adequate support to his child.
The parent plays a very important role in the development of the child. The child speaks his first words under the auspices of his parent. The child takes the parents as their role model in his early age. The child looks up to his parents for protection care and education. This initial impetus provided by parents helps the child to have better future. This care provided by the parent is pure and unadulterated. A parent would never take his care as a collateral so as to expect reciprocation of love and support from his child.
A parent should plan his future well ahead so that he may not have to depend on anyone for his support. A child has his own obligation to take care of his parents.However, there have been occasions where the child has failed to take care of his parent. A parent should try to be in a position to be able to cope up with his situation too. A person should understand that, as helpless the child is when it is born, a parent would also be in the same state due to senility and exhaustion. There may not be need of a monetary support, but moral support from his child would do lot of good for the parent in his old age and spend his time peacefully.

Analysis of an Issue - Personal diet

Analysis of an Issue

"Responsibility for eating healthy food belongs to each individual person, not to the government."


While it is true that regulating the food policy of its state belongs to the goverment, the responsibility of eating healthy food belongs to the individual person.
The onus is on the goverment to make its citizen aware of the proper and healthy eating habits. It can recommend the possible combination of nutrition and can promote them through ad awareness campaign. I believe that the responsibility of the goverment ends if it has spent adequate time, money and resource to promote and encourage healthy food habits. From then on, its up to the individual to choose his eating habits. Govermenet should not try to spoon feed to its citizens. If it does so, it would be infringing on their personal freedom of choice.
Having said that, there may be some people who would actually require guidance for proper eating habits. A few of them may include but not limited to orphans, new born babies, single mothers, prison inmates and metally disabled. For them, the goverment can very well take the mantle of providing proper guidance to food habits. But as a whole, its the responsibilty of an individual to take care of his diet.

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Analysis of an Argument - Rash driving

Analysis of an Argument

The following appeared as part of a newspaper editorial

"As public concern over the speed at which many teenagers drive has increased, local authorities have become more vigilant in their efforts to arrest drivers who exceed the posted speeds within the city limits. Many young people have consequently begun to vandalize speed limit and other traffic signs. Thus, the enforcement efforts have ironically resulted in an observed increase in vandalism."


The argument is flawed in its conclusion that the enforcement of law over speed limit has increased vandalism among teenagers. It is a pseudo-correlation between the vandalism and the enforcement of the law. However, the root cause of the vandalism is due to the improper implementation of the law.
It is highly appreciable that the local authorities have taken concern over the negligent driving of the teenagers. Generally, teenagers have the mentality to be free from any rules or obstacles and have things done on their own accord. In these cases, it is upto the old and experienced to teach them to differentiate between right and wrong. Along with passing the law, the local authorities should have tried to inculcate the evils of negligent driving to the teenagers. It is necessary to make them aware of their own wrong-doing. Instead of that, if the local authorities would simply try to manacle the teenagers, the general tendency would be to go against the law. This would explain the pseudo-correlation between passing the law and vandalism.
After having passed the law, the police should also have been more vigilant in guarding the properties of the city. Efforts should have been made to also patrol the city for any outburst against the law, atleast for the initial few weeks.
The law may have been put in place to check the teenagers legally. However, neither the teenagers were educated about the evils of negligent driving nor the police gave adequate cover to the public property. It is the implementation of the law that has failed which has led to to increased vandalism among teenagers.

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