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Rhetoric Argument Analysis

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Question 2: RHETORIC

The rational core of the argument is that the Australian delegates should not give money to the UNFCCC since it is bad for the Australian economy. However, the author is using a plethora of rhetorical devices that make the argument unclear, and they will be examined below.

Firstly, the author has used Ambiguity within the argument. Ambiguous terms have about a set of two or more definite definitions, and if used in the wrong manner can make the argument unclear. Author’s use of ambiguity – “… the left dream up.”
In this context, the word ‘left’ is ambiguous since it could mean that the author is literally talking about people on the left in terms of direction or does it refer to people that stand for the leftie democratic …show more content…

This fallacy relies on an event causing many subsequent events that would normally not be favourable to the arguer. The argument here, establishes the fact that one event will lead to several outcomes that are not preferred by many and it can be seen when the author mentioned that belief in climate change would lead to dangerous proposals, which would in turn cause politicians to waste billions of dollars, which will finally end up resulting in the collapse of the economy. This is may be true to some extent, however the argument still commits the Slippery Slope fallacy, and it cannot be overlooked since it weakens the argument structure.

Secondly, the author commits the fallacy of ‘Appeal to Tradition’. This is clear since the author refers to an event that has occurred in the past, and assumes that it should be kept the same way since it has always been like that. This is seen when the author mentions that the economic model of capitalism has been the only model that has done real work in history. While arguing against Figueres, the author mentions that we should not change the system since it has always helped deliver development and uplift poverty for billions in the past, thereby committing the fallacy of appeal to …show more content…

People would more likely be willing to agree with polls and other statistical arguments since it makes the argument sound more valid than it really is. In this sense, the arguer probably intends to skew the argument in their favour to make readers agree with their standing since ‘statistics usually don’t lie’. This technique is known as a Spin (Following the Poll).

Moreover, there also exist many instances of Safety Net terms. Considering ‘Less than 45%’ as an example, it can be clearly seen that the arguer is trying to give themselves wiggle room so that they do not need to fully commit to the statistic or the argument itself.

In addition to this, the author also uses a linguistic device known as Certainty & Doubt to further draw us away from the logical core of the argument. The use of words like ‘obvious’, ‘despite’ and ‘Its impossibility’ means that author is trying to cover up the fact that they may not have real evidence on the topic at hand to fully support their

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