Writing Assignment #1

In this writing assignment, take a position on a controversial issue and construct 3 original arguments in support of this conclusion.

Follow the Guidelines for Constructing Arguments:

(1) State the conclusion

Example: Wars are morally wrong.

(2) Brainstorm at least 5 reasons that are potential premises for this conclusion, and state them. Then rank them in terms of how well they support the conclusion.

Example: (A) Wars cause a great deal of death, destruction, and harm.

(B) Soldiers come primarily from the economically disadvantaged members of society.

(C) Wars are like street fights between thugs.

(D) Wars can be avoided through diplomacy.

(E) Wars divert resources that would be better spent elsewhere.

(F) Wars set a bad example by making other forms of violence seem more acceptable.

(3) Take the top 3 reasons and use each of them to form a separate argument for the conclusion. (You will probably need to add one or more premises to each argument.) Don’t worry about the argument form since we haven’t studied that yet. Write down each of the 3 arguments separately, stating the conclusion after the premises and numbering each of them. (The conclusion should be identical in all three arguments.)

Example: (A) (1) Wars cause a great deal of death, destruction, and harm.

(2) Acts that cause a great deal of death, destruction, and harm are morally wrong.

(3) Therefore, wars are morally wrong.

(B) (1) Soldiers come primarily from the economically disadvantaged members of society.

(2) Policies that place an uneven amount of the social cost on the poor are morally wrong.

(3) Therefore, wars are morally wrong.

(C) (1) Wars are like street fights between thugs.

(2) Street fights between thugs are morally wrong.

(3) Therefore, wars are morally wrong.

(4) Briefly evaluate each of the arguments: Are all of the premises uncontroversially true? Whether or not they are true, how well do the premises seem to support the conclusion? (Don’t worry about distinguishing between deductive and inductive arguments since we haven’t studied them yet.)

Example: (A) The second premise is controversial, since many people believe that these sorts of harms can be outweighed if they produce something very good, like the liberation of a group of people or the elimination of an external threat. If this premise was true, the conclusion would be very well supported.

(B) The first premise is true for most countries, but not all. The second premise is widely accepted. If the premises were true, the conclusion would be well supported but not perfectly solid because not all wars involve soldiers that on average are poorer than their fellow citizens.

(C) The first premise is controversial, because many people believe that some wars were fought for just or noble reasons. If the premises were true, the conclusion would be strong but not certain because an analogy isn’t a completely foolproof foundation for an argument.

Grammar and Spelling: Make sure that your papers are clearly written – i.e., that the meaning is clear enough that any other student would be able to understand it. Papers will be downgraded for spelling, grammatical, and stylistic errors if there are more than 2 per page.

Citations: You shouldn’t have used any sources, since the arguments are supposed to be original. But if you did, you need to cite all sources that influenced your work, using any standard citation method that includes all of the relevant information (including exact page numbers if it is a printed source). Otherwise you are engaging in plagiarism.

Format: 12 point type, double-spaced, 1-1.5 inch margins, minimum 1 full page of content. Number and staple pages if more than one page.