Using Numbers to Persuade : Hidden Rhetoric of Statistics

Philosophy of current knowledge distinguishes facts from values. It maintains that facts areobjective, indisputable, universally verifiable, and do not require to persuade. Since rhetoricis persuasion it is assumed to be deceptive and overlook reality. Therefore, statistics in itscurrent form disregards rhetoric and emphasizes only numbers. It ignores meanings andinterpretations of numbers that involve subjectivity and value judgments. In the real world,numbers and values are entangled in a way that it becomes impossible to avoid subjectivity.So, it is used with an appearance of objectivity. We illustrate how apparently objectivestatistics conceal subjective choices.Most of the real-world experiences cannot be reduced to numbers, but the scientific approachcompels us to measure everything. In the attempt to measure the unmeasurable like trust,intelligence and wealth, etc. it is inevitable to make subjective choices. There is no objectiveway to reduce multiple measures into one. In the field of economics, values are involvedeven in seemingly indisputable numbers like GDP. It is value-laden for the choice offactors, weights, and their signs. Making comparisons on such measures without awarenesshas harmful implications for policy development. Moreover, it is also desirable tounderstand hidden values to avoid deception