Answer

Trevor.        1. Animals killed for their skins endure overcrowding, deprivation of air and sunlight,
                       branding without anesthetic, horn removal without anesthetic, tail removal without anesthetic,
                       castration without anesthetic, stunning, skinning alive and death by bleeding.
                    2. (These are things that should be stopped.)
                    3. (These are things that can be stopped by a mass refusal to purchase clothing made from animal products.)
                    C. People should refuse to purchase clothing made from animal products.                                    DIRECT

Chris.           1. Trevor's argument depends on us feeling horror, pity and disgust.
                    2. (Horror, pity and disgust are emotions.)
                    3. Emotions are irrelevant to logic.                                                            
                    C. Trevor's argument is irrelevant.                                        COUNTER

If Trevor had said "killing animals to make clothes sounds awful, so it can't be happening," Chris would be right. Trevor would be arguing from emotion, and that would be irrelevant. But Trevor isn't talking about feelings, he's delivering facts, and facts are very relevant to logic. If horror, pity and disgust are the emotions we feel when we understand the situation, then those are the appropriate emotions to that situation. Chris may personally feel that it's perfectly okay to do these horrifying things, but he can't claim that Trevor is appealing to emotion merely because Trevor mentions facts that psychologically normal people will react strongly to.


Fist of Death
Based on the little gabfest between Trevor and Chris, it's morally wrong to purchase clothing made from animals. Trevor appeals to the fact that animals really, really suffer because of this practice and, since unjustified suffering is the pits, me makes his point. Chris tries to pretend that Trevor is "appealing to emotion," but Chris doesn't know the difference between manipulating people's emotions and just straight giving facts. Trevor's argument doesn't really have anything to do with emotion, so Chris is comitting the "red herring" fallacy of mentioning something that has nothing to do with the logic of the issue.

Use your browser's "back" key to return to your place in the reading.
This Site is Proudly Hosted By:
WEBster Computing Services