COMPOSING ARGUMENTS Group 7.Chua.Chuabio.Diaz.Labalan.Milla

REVIEW!

Reasoning  Natural to human beings  Objective  To demonstrate truth of a claim or belief  When do we reason  Justifying an act or obligation to be right  Evaluating a duty, action, or decision to be correct  Giving reasons for other humans and social concerns  Importance!  To develop this natural ability, we study and practice the correct from incorrect techniques of reasoning.

Justifying an act or obligation to be right

Evaluating a duty, action, or decision to be correct

Types of Argument Logical formContentPremises and Conclusion DeductiveImportant!NopeP support C InductiveNopeImportant!Empirical evidences in P would either support or fail to support the high probability of the C EvaluativeNeed not be true or false; either be good or bad, right or wrong, correct or incorrect Strength lies in strong public approval

Steps in Composing an Argument

Step 1!  State the conclusion in simple terms.  Define any vague or ambiguous terms.  What is the conclusion trying to establish?

Step 2!  Examine the claim of the conclusion.  Empirical?  Moral or evaluative?  Combination of both?

Step 3!  What kind of evidence  is required to establish the truth of the conclusion?  is required to justify the correctness of the claim of the conclusion?

Step 4!  Produce at least 3-5 that would provide support for the claim of the conclusion.

Example 1 Step 1: Conclusion: “Prostitution should be legalized” Definitions:  Prostitute – a person who offers sexual favors and services in exchange for money  Presently, prostitution is an act of felony.  Legalize – remove the legal constraints form its practice and to put it under governmental regulations

Step 2: The claim is evaluative. Note! All policy proposals to legalize something are evaluative.

Step 3: Evidence required:  Beneficial consequences of the proposal  Adverse consequences of not adopting the proposal

Step 4: Premises: 1. Prostitution is the oldest profession. (empirical) 2. It should be regulated by the government for the safety of the public. (evaluative) 3. It will not stop anyway. (empirical) 4. It has educational function of introducing the youth to sex. (empirical) 5. It provides an outlet, and helps prevent sexual crimes. (empirical)

Example 2 Step 1: Conclusion: “Contraception is better than abortion. ” Definitions:  Contraception – artificial form of preventing pregnancy during sexual intercourse  Abortion – premature termination of pregnancy resulting in the death of the embryo or fetus either through the use of abortion-inducing drugs or through minor surgery

Step 2: The claim is evaluative.

Step 3: Evidence required:  Moral rule and consequences of choosing contraception over abortion  Moral (evaluative) and empirical statements

Step 4: Premises: 1. Contraception is physically safer than abortion. (empirical) 2. No life has been formed yet in contraception, unlike in abortion. (empirical) 3. It will prevent unwanted pregnancy and/or abortion. (empirical) 4. Contraception is not a sin; abortion is. (evaluative) 5. Contraception is legal; abortion is not. (empirical)

Example 3 Step 1: Conclusion: “Habitual sex offenders should be castrated” Definitions:  Habitual - done or experienced regularly and repeatedly  Sex offenders - generic term for all persons convicted of crimes involving sex, including rape, molestation, sexual harassment and pornography production or distribution  Castration – being incapable of reproduction as a result of removal, destruction, or inactivation of the gonads

Step 2: The claim is evaluative.

Step 3: Evidence required:  Moral rule and consequences of implementing torture and castration  Moral (evaluative) and empirical statements

Step 4: Premises:  Castration and torture will be a deterrent to the people predisposed to commit sex crimes. (evaluative)  The punishment is commensurate to the crime. (empirical)  They should be tortured for the crime they have committed; they should be castrated so that they cannot commit the same offense. (evaluative)

Example 4 Step 1: Conclusion: “Capital punishment should be implemented instead of life imprisonment.” Definitions:  Capital punishment - giving a person the death sentence as punishment for a crime  Life imprisonment - sentence of imprisonment under which the person would remain in jail for life.

Step 2: The claim is evaluative.

Step 3: Evidence required:  Proof that doing so would be beneficial to society.

Step 4: Premises:  Capital punishment is less costly than maintenance of prisoners sentenced for life. (empirical)  The goal of imprisonment is to rehabilitate prisoners so that they could be safely reintegrated to society. There is no point if the prisoner was sentenced never to be released. (evaluative)  Capital punishment deters crime. (empirical)

Example 5 Step 1: Conclusion: “The sun will come out tomorrow.” Definitions:  Sun – center of our solar system

Step 2: The claim is empirical

Step 3: Evidence required:  Empirical evidence that the sun comes out every day.

Step 4: Premises:  The sun has been coming out consistently before. (empirical)  There is no change in the rotation of the earth. (empirical)  There is no change in the revolution of the earth. (empirical)