For Your Edification...

This post: Extracredit + HW

HW: find a good philosophical definition of metaphysics, and post here.

Extracredit: The following exercise is available for any of you to ponder; for anyone who scored an 89 or lower on the exam, it has a special, added characteristic - i.e., it can count for up to 10 points in my gradebook. The point-value of your answer will depend on its correctness, completeness, and clarity. The real value of your answer will depend on these same things. (What's the difference?) If you are responding to the exercise and want to qualify for points, you must comment on this post by 11:59 pm on Wednesday 7 October.

ANYway...

Below are excerpts from actual letters to the editor in which the authors argue for or against a particular position on a social issue. Your mission, should you choose to accept it, is to choose one excerpt and:

1) Identify and label the premises and the conclusion of the argument. (Remember that you can, if necessary, insert enthymemes - any statements that are assumed, and are important to the argument, but which the author hasn't stated explicitly. Enthymemes are often omitted because the author considers them too obvious to state aloud - but they're important to analyzing the argument.) There can certainly be more than two premises, so don't worry if you find more. Label them P1, P2, ... C.

2) Classify the argument. First: is it deductive or inductive? Second: if deductive, is it valid/invalid, then sound/unsound? if inductive, is it strong/weak, then cogent/uncogent? Third: are there any fallacies committed? if so, name them.

3) If there is a fallacy, reconstruct the argument so that it is a valid (or strong) argument. (If there is no fallacy, simply write "no fallacy" for this step.)

4) Respond to one (1) of your classmates' analyses - either suggest a revision, or ask a question, or otherwise challenge her/his analysis. (If only one person in the class chooses to do this assignment, this step does not apply.)

Happy hunting! Please note: the writers are not exactly neutral or unbiased in their writing. When you analyze their arguments, try to make them as unbiased as you can.


Excerpt #1. "Evolution would have been dealt serious setbacks if environmentalists had been around over the eons trying to save endangered species. Species are endangered because they just do not fit the bigger picture any more as the world changes. That's not bad. It's just life. In most cases we have seen the 'endangered species' argument is just a ruse; much deeper motives usually exist."

Excerpt. #2. "The problem that I have with the pro-choice supporters' argument is that they make 'choice' the ultimate issue. Let's face facts. No one has absolute freedom of choice sanctioned by the law. One can choose to rob a bank, but it's not lawful. Others can choose to kill their one-year-old child, but it is not legal. Why then should a woman have the legal right to take the life of her unborn child?"

Excerpt #3. "Since when did military service become a right, for gays or anyone else? The military has always been allowed to discriminate against people who don't meet its requirements, including those who are overweight or too tall or too short. There is an adequate supply of personnel with the characteristics they need. And there is no national need for gays in the military."

Excerpt #4. "The issue is not whether we should subsidize the arts, but whether anyone should be able to force someone else to subsidize the arts. You and I are free to give any amount of our money to any artistic endeavor we wish to support. When the government gets involved, however, a group of bureaucrats is given the power to take our money and give it to the arts they wish to support. We are not consulted. That is not a way to promote a responsible culture, That is tyrrany."

Excerpt #5. "If the advocates of prayers in public schools win on this issue, just where will it end? Perhaps next they will ask for prayers on public transportation? Prayers by government workers before they start their job each day? Or maybe, mandatory prayers in public restaurants before starting each meal might be a good idea."