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Eager!
![]() Join Date: Jul 2002
Location: USA
Posts: 43
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These two Analysis of Issue and Analysis of Argument topics are from PP Test2. Can someone review this regarding its structure, content and language.
Thanks ************************************************** **** The following appeared in a magazine article on trends and lifestyles. "In general, people are not as concerned as they were a decade ago about regulating their intake of red meat and fatty cheeses. Walk into the Heart's Delight, a store that started selling organic fruits and vegetables and whole-grain flours in the 1960's, and you will also find a wide selection of cheeses made with high butterfat content. Next door, the owners of the Good Earth Café, an old vegetarian restaurant, are still making a modest living, but the owners of the new House of Beef across the street are millionaires." Discuss how well reasoned you find this argument. In your discussion be sure to analyze the line of reasoning and the use of evidence in the argument. For example, you may need to consider what questionable assumptions underlie the thinking and what alternative explanations or counterexamples might weaken the conclusion. You can also discuss what sort of evidence would strengthen or refute the argument, what changes in the argument would make it more logically sound, and what, if anything, would help you better evaluate its conclusion. ------------------------------------------------------------- The author of the argument says the general health awareness of people has reduced over the past decade and gives some specific examples to support his claim. The argument is not valid and is poorly supported for the following reasons. First, the argument explains how "Heart's Delight", a store which started selling organic fruits and vegetables has started including fatty items in it's shelves and points out this as an indication of decreasing concern about bad effects of ingesting red meat and fatty cheeses. But, the argument doesn't give any further information which would help us evaluate the circumstances which might have forced "Heart's Delight" to include these fatty items in it's store. May be, increased health awareness among the people might have triggered a whole chain of new business in the field of non-fatty items, like organic fruits and vegetables. As other busniessess started doing well in this area, by not being able to withstanding the competition, Heart's Delight might have chosen to explore other means of survival. In this case, the situation would just support the increased health awareness among general people. Secondly, the argument compares two stores, Good Earth Cafe, a old vegetarian restaurant, which is still making a modest living and House of Beef, whose owners are millionaires. Again, the argument doesn't give enough background of these two stores. It is very much possible that House of Beef is a big busiess owned restaurant chain, where as Good Earth Cafe is a single owner maintained restaurant. In this case, the comparison doesn't help in drawing any conclusion about the dietary habits of the resident people. Finally, the argument doesn't mention about any changes to the economy of the region. May be, it was a sleepy town with a small population in the beginning of the decade and establishment of new industries might have transformed it into a bustling town with big business offices over the decade. This might have triggered lot of visitors to the town. In order to cater to the changing needs of general population, new restaurants might have opened and the additional superstores might have added new items to its shelf. In this scenario, it is very much possible that people of the town are still health conscious, whereas, short term visitors from out of state, might be contributing to the business of new restaurants. To summarise, the argument is barely convincing in its present form. In order to give strength to his argument, the author of the argument must substantiate the argument with information about other developments in the area, presence of other big time operators, and changing economy of the town. ************************************************** **** "A business should not be held responsible for providing customers with complete information about its products or services; customers should have the responsibility of gathering information about the products or services they may want to buy." Discuss the extent to which you agree or disagree with the opinion stated above. Support your views with reasons and/or examples from your own experience, observations, or reading. -------------------------------------------------------------- Should the responsibility of providing customers with product information lie with the business? Or, should it be consumer's responsibility to gather relevant information on the product he want's to buy? I tend to agree with the former, that the responsibility lies entirely with the business. I want to substantiate my position with the following points. In the age of technological advances, products are increasing in complexity. Competition in business has promoted development of a wide spectrum of variations in each product. A consumer obviously cannot be expected to digest these details in order to make a judgement on the product purchase. The business should ensure that customer is well aware of all their features, their inherent drawabacks, etc. We are seeing an increase in the trend in that direction as business in all sectors is trying to give as much information as possible about its products or services. From consultancy service (software, legal, accountancy, etc) to software industry, from automobile industry to fast food chain, the market is replete with such examples. One such specific example might be quoted about Frech Fries served in McDonalds. Originally they advertised it as a pure vegetarian food, and later admitted to having traces of beef and agreed to donate 10 million dollars towards vegetarian cause. The argument is even more valid in case of high-tech industries like software and electronics, where, before the consumer is able to come to grips with yesterday's beta version, tomorrow's gamma version would have hit the market. Some may argue that with so much information already available through advanced informaton media, is it really necessary to give additional information? We might consider the example of cigarate industry, in which case, the adverse effects of cigarate smoking is well known. But, recent court judgement in a case involving Benson & Hedges indicates that the company must have borne responsiblity to convey information about the carcinogenic content of cigarates and their specific influences on the health of individuals. Similarly, we may quote examples of product recall in case of firestone, General Motors, etc, when the authorities doubted the safety standards of the products. In all these cases, responsibility was never shifted on the cosumers. To summarise, there is enough evidence to support the argument that the sole responsibility of increasing the product awareness lies with the business and customer cannot be expected to gather the information on their behalf. |
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