What does Contextual Filters (in Views) serve for?
Contextual filters in Views 3 replaces the 'Arguments' of Views 2.

It's best used with paths as outlined in this video: http://nodeone.se/blogg/learn-views-with-nodeone-part-19-contextual-filters-with-paths.

By the sounds of it, the filtering of your view could do the same job.