Arbitrariness
Claims of arbitrariness come in two general categories. The first is for definitions where there is no sharp deviding line. For example, if sand is slowly removed from a pile of sand, eventually there will no longer be a pile. But no one can say exactly when it stopped being a pile. Likewise, if hair is removed from a man's head, he will eventually be bald, but there is no clear point where he becomes bald. But simply because there is no sharp deviding line it does not mean that such concepts as piles of material, baldness, light and dark, etc. are not useful.
The other type of arbitrariness is for rules and regulations where some limit is set, such as the speed limit or the age for admittance to "adult" movies. For example, someone arrested for going just over the speed limit may plead that the limit is arbitrary: 'How can you arrest me for going 56 miles per hour? It's only one mile over the speed limit, which is arbitrary anyway." Of course the next speeder can then use this as a wedge (Walton, section 9.7) to gain further concessions. He can claim that 57 MPH is essentially the same as 56 MPH. Soon there would be no speed limit at all.
In this example from WIlfred Beckerman's Through Green-Colored Glasses (page 56) the author tries to claim that the zero growth favored by many proponents of sustainable development is arbitrary:
And why stop at zero [economic] growth now? Why not cut output? After all. what is so special about the figure "zero"? Why not slow down growth to 1 percent per annum, or to minus 2.2 percent? The more you cut output the longer the finite resources will last. Does the figure 'zero' have some mystical attraction for the eco-doomsters?
Of course many environmentalists would like to see industrial output cut. But in this case zero is not arbitrary, it means that production stays the same. Even a small annual increase will eventually lead to greatly increased resource use. For example, a 1 percent per year increase means a doubling in 70 years, and a quadrupling in 140 years.
References
Beckerman, Wilfred, Through Green-Colored Glasses: Environmentalism Reconsidered., Cato Institute, 1996.
Walton, Douglas N, Informal Logic: A Handbook for Critical Argumentation, Cambridge University Press, 1989.
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Written by Jim Norton
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