Next time, please make the point of the article easier to find.
Sorry? What point are you referring to? In my thoughts at least, this article was about the root causes of poverty and why aid fails to address it adequately. If there was such a thing as a main point (and in writing this I had to summarize many) I would describe this as it. Thus, the opening paragraphs outline my general argument. I put forward the claim I am attempting to refute:
that foreign/charity aid to 3rd world countries ‘works’ in the sense that it would function as a ‘solution’ for global extreme poverty.
as well as the methods I am using for the refutation.
In the rest of this post, I’d like to synthesize summaries and excerpts from some sources I’ve read on poverty, and why it refutes the notion that aid alone is enough to ‘solve’ the problem.
I’m a little confused. What was the main point of the article in your view? My intention was to make it clear, but maybe I was unsuccessful. The argument is as follows: aid to the poor through charitable (as well as many other means), fails in general because it does not sufficiently address the systemic causes of poverty. Thus the analogy of a patient using painkillers instead of going to the hospital for treatment.
The main reason I decided against including many examples of aid failing (aside from length) was because it did not serve the ‘main point’ of the argument. In my view, this article was primarily an exercise in deductive reasoning. I begin with the principles behind the causes of poverty, and then illustrate how people have attempted (and failed) to solve them through charitable. This was done through a few examples, not just Millenium villages, although the others are mentioned in far less length. My primary interest in this article was setting forward the principles themselves, rather than providing a volume of examples. I do not see why I should compare different examples of aid (all of which being unsuccessful under my framework) when my goal isn’t to compare their effects. That would be missing the forest for the trees.
Allow me to adopt your analogy to explain where I thought I was going with my argument. Many people in poorer areas are illiterate. Without first raising literacy no amount of books of high quality will improve them intellectually. I then proceed to find an example of people attempting to raise literacy, but failing, for various reasons (turns out the readers didn’t like a particular book). Notice I am not saying any particular book is stupid. I am saying that donating books to illiterate readers is unlikely to accomplish anything unless we also attempt to make them literate. (Note that I never said anything on giving up books! I made a donation myself and encouraged others to do the same!)
I am, of course, open to changing my mind. But I would require evidence of either A. aid/methods of aid proven to be effective in reducing long term poverty at scale with reasonable cost or B. basic logical flaws with my premise of what causes and sustains poverty. If you can cut an excerpt for me from a source, I would be happy to view it, but unfortunately I do not have time to read through a full book or sequence.
Do you still find my reasoning fallacious? If so, feel free to point out how.
Sorry? What point are you referring to? In my thoughts at least, this article was about the root causes of poverty and why aid fails to address it adequately. If there was such a thing as a main point (and in writing this I had to summarize many) I would describe this as it. Thus, the opening paragraphs outline my general argument. I put forward the claim I am attempting to refute:
as well as the methods I am using for the refutation.
I’m a little confused. What was the main point of the article in your view? My intention was to make it clear, but maybe I was unsuccessful. The argument is as follows: aid to the poor through charitable (as well as many other means), fails in general because it does not sufficiently address the systemic causes of poverty. Thus the analogy of a patient using painkillers instead of going to the hospital for treatment.
The main reason I decided against including many examples of aid failing (aside from length) was because it did not serve the ‘main point’ of the argument. In my view, this article was primarily an exercise in deductive reasoning. I begin with the principles behind the causes of poverty, and then illustrate how people have attempted (and failed) to solve them through charitable. This was done through a few examples, not just Millenium villages, although the others are mentioned in far less length. My primary interest in this article was setting forward the principles themselves, rather than providing a volume of examples. I do not see why I should compare different examples of aid (all of which being unsuccessful under my framework) when my goal isn’t to compare their effects. That would be missing the forest for the trees.
Allow me to adopt your analogy to explain where I thought I was going with my argument. Many people in poorer areas are illiterate. Without first raising literacy no amount of books of high quality will improve them intellectually. I then proceed to find an example of people attempting to raise literacy, but failing, for various reasons (turns out the readers didn’t like a particular book). Notice I am not saying any particular book is stupid. I am saying that donating books to illiterate readers is unlikely to accomplish anything unless we also attempt to make them literate. (Note that I never said anything on giving up books! I made a donation myself and encouraged others to do the same!)
I am, of course, open to changing my mind. But I would require evidence of either A. aid/methods of aid proven to be effective in reducing long term poverty at scale with reasonable cost or B. basic logical flaws with my premise of what causes and sustains poverty. If you can cut an excerpt for me from a source, I would be happy to view it, but unfortunately I do not have time to read through a full book or sequence.
Do you still find my reasoning fallacious? If so, feel free to point out how.