Classwork 1 Thursday, Feb points

Themes for Discourse Practice  The Use of Medical Marijuana  Single-Payer Health Care  Physician-assisted Suicide  Competitive Sports for Children

Example: Is Warrantless Wiretapping Justified? Yes: 1. historical precedent (Lincoln and the principle of judicial precedent 2. Unprecedented security threats (manipulation of an open system)

Yes – Argument types  “Historic precedent” argument is likely to be inductive.  “Security threats” argument is inductive.

Example: Is Warrantless Wiretapping Justified? No: 1. Constitutional protections (against unwarranted search and seizure) 2. Balance of freedoms v. current threat (standing statutes enable sufficient surveillance)

No – Arguments Types  “Constitutional precedent” is likely to be deductive  “Balance of freedom/security” argument could go either way: Matching surveillance practices to a list of surveillance principles: deductive Discussion of what counts as “sufficient”: inductive

Things to Remember  Deductive is not better than inductive  Premises must be relevant to conclusions Thus, we avoid emotional reasoning  This is just practice!