Critically discuss the following analogical argument:Economic sanctions simply do not work. As a weapon of international persuasion, they are about as effective as popguns.The United Nations imposed drastic sanctions upon Rhodesia; they failed utterly.We imposed sanctions upon Poland; nothing happened.Our government has forbidden trade with Cuba for the past twenty-five years; Cuba goes its own way. Most recently, the president has laid heavy sanctions upon Libya; our noble allies have pooh-poohed the effort.You can count on the same kind of result if economic sanctions are imposed on North Korea.

Question

What will be an ideal response?

Answer 1

We think that a good evaluation should identify the premise-analogue, the conclusion-analogue, and the attribute of interest. The last of these is vague in this example-the phrases "failed utterly," "nothing happened," and "goes its own way" are not clear. The claim that "our noble allies pooh-poohed the effort" attributes a characteristic to the Libyan case that is different from that attributed to the others. Is the author trying to say that economic sanctions never have an effect whatsoever? His remarks don't say so (Cuba may "go its own way," but American sanctions were very detrimental to the Cuban economy). How knowable is such a claim? Does he mean that sanctions don't destroy a country? Are we talking about American sanctions or sanctions imposed by all of America's allies as well? Any relevant differences between North Korea and the other countries mentioned would add to a critical evaluation.