Robert Chapman In Crimes Against The Environment

Having discussed the overall relationship of the economy and the environment, the focus shall now be shifted towards the ways in which the economy often mistreats and takes advantage the environment purely for its benefit. Instances of oil spills and earthquakes caused by fracking only help cement this and many people would argue that this is the case. I will now delve deeper into the growing global belief that the economy and the environment aren’t as symbiotic as many believe.
In Robert Chapman’s “It’s the Economy, Stupid!” and the Environment: An Urgent Reminder, Chapman’s heavy usage of the appeals to both logic and credibility, as well as his overall subject all help him in explaining the flaws of neoliberalism and its relationship with …show more content…
The logic used behind the authors argument is a particularly interesting one, in that it is primarily supported by the real-life case study of the island of Nauru. Using the events of what occurred on Nauru due to heavy economic greed and the complete and utter lack of environmental awareness, the author can provide the audience with something better than a hypothetical situation, - a situation that has already occurred. This makes the logic behind this paper far more compelling and eye-opening seeing as the situation that the author describes truly did occur, thus making the logic very hard to cast as false. The subject of this piece, as mentioned previously, is the story of the island of Nauru and the events that led to the devastation of its environment. This subject is something that is very relevant in today’s world, as global climate change and environmental degradation are the most pressing issues facing humanity today. While ninety-nine percent of all scientists conclude that climate change is a real, factual thing that is occurring due to human activity, there are still those that choose to ignore the facts are persist to believe that climate change is not a real thing, but with the subject being the story of a country that was devastated by the economic greed, it becomes nearly impossible for the nay-sayers to ignore the story of Nauru. Overall, …show more content…
For example, in Robert Chapman’s piece, the subject matter of neoliberalism an it’s flaws are very philosophical in nature. This in turn influences the logic used to support his message, as it shifts from that of the common analytical point to that of a philosophical one. His use of the philosophies of Marx and Thoreau to back up his claims allow him to support the philosophical subject that he is writing about. In comparison, in the fifth piece, the author’s subject is far more concrete and ‘real’ than Chapman’s, meaning the logic it is using is far more analytical and empirical. Instead of using the ‘ifs’ that Chapman uses in his logic, the fifth piece uses concrete data to support its subject. This is because theoreticals cannot suffice as evidence in this instance, while it does in Chapman’s work. Other examples of this would be when a mathematician purely uses numerical data to support his theories, or when a historian uses case studies of certain countries to back up his ideas. This all supports the idea that the subject matter of an academic piece dictates the logic that is used to support