Standardizing Arguments: Analyzing Passages for Arguments and Their Structures, Exams of Physiology

Download Standardizing Arguments: Analyzing Passages for Arguments and Their Structures and more Exams Physiology in PDF only on Docsity! CPHL 214 weekly Assignment #2 Standardizing Arguments complete prep solution 2024 Toronto Metropolitan University Examine the following passages to determine whether they contain arguments. For those passages that do contain arguments, rewrite them in standardized form, numbering premises and conclusion(s). Note any subarguments and indicate the main argument and the main conclusion. Note: Some of the following passages do not contain arguments and therefore do not contain premises or conclusions. If you think that a passage does not contain an argument, explain briefly why it does not. Part I 1. “Everyone knows what the United States will be up to this year: Electing a new president. But what will Europe be up to? Here are three things Europe should focus on in 2008: jobs, Muslims, neighbours.” (Timothy Garton Ash, “Europeans have forgotten what it takes to be great,” Globe and Mail, January 10, 2008) - This passage does not contain an argument. It beings with a comment about everyone knowing the US will be having an election and then talks about the 3 things that Europe should focus on. The author does not give reasons for why Europe should focus on those things. 2. Either the butler committed the murder or the judge committed the murder. Since the butler was passionately in love with the victim, it was not he who committed the murder. Therefore, the judge committed the murder. - This passage contains an argument and a subargument. 1. The butler was passionately in love with the victim. Thus, 2. It was not the butler who committed the murder 3. Either the butler committed the murder or the judge committed the murder. Therefore, 4.The judge committed the murder - The subargument goes from (1) to (2). (2) and (3) – the main argument lead to (4). 3. “No one has a right to use a relatively unreliable procedure in order to decide whether to punish another. Using such a system, he is in no position to know that the other deserves punishment: hence he has no right to punish him.” - This passage contains an argument. It is through standardization: 1. You can see a man and his children in a picture, with no wife beside him, and yet in the original picture his wife (whom he has now divorced) was there 2. He had her eliminated with sophisticated alteration techniques. Thus, 3. Photographs can be altered 4. The techniques for doing so are increasingly sophisticated, due to the use of computers. Therefore, 5. You can see from this that photographs are not a reliable guide to what reality was like in the past. - Subarguments (1) and (2) support (3), main arguments (3) and (4) support (5). Part IV: In the following passage, state whether an argument is given. If so, identify the conclusion. Do you think any of these passages should be interpreted as expressing an argument with an unstated conclusion? If so, which ones? What is the unstated conclusion, and what are your reasons for reading it into the passage? 9. Background: The following passage is a paraphrase of an advertisement that appeared in The Atlantic Monthly in May 1999, posted by the Nuclear Energy Institute, based in Washington, D.C. The text of the advertisement was accompanied by two photographs. The first showed a plant, or factory, with blue sky and clouds above it the words Fresh Air written against the sky. The second showed ripe red tomatoes glossy with drops of moisture and had “Fresh Food” written in it. Nuclear power is generally quite safe and it can contribute to our lives in many ways, including things like food safety, medicine, and clean production of electric energy. It’s for this last reason that so many people want to accept nuclear energy and give it importance in our energy future. These contributions and this experience show that actually nuclear energy is a lot safer than many people think. - The conclusion is that (4) nuclear processes are safe and should continue to play an important role in the future of American energy. - The 2 sentences used as visuals are to help understand what the advertisers are saying by creating an image in our head as we cannot see the photographs. - The premises are (1) the plant does not emit greenhouse gases, (2) the nuclear technology helps in various activities ranging from medicine to space exploration and (3) the nuclear power plants help keep the air clean. All 3 lead to (4), the conclusion. Part V: For each of the following examples, (a) decide whether the passage contains an argument. If it does, then (b) represent the argument in a standardized form with the premises preceding the conclusion. (c) Check carefully to see whether any passage requires either a missing conclusion or a missing premise. (d) Indicate any subarguments. (e) If you add material that is not explicitly stated by the author, give interpretive reasons for doing so. Remember, there should be no supplementation without justification. 10. If people were truly unselfish, they would give as much to worthy charities as they save for their old age. But do they? You tell me! - This passage contains an argument. It is standardization. 1. If people were truly unselfish, they would give as much to worthy charities as they save for their old age. 2. (Rhetorical question – do they? makes u think of a negative response) the second premise that is missing would be that “People do not give as much to worthy charities as they save for their old age”. Therefore, 3. Since this passage does not have a clear conclusion written, the missing conclusion would be – People are not truly unselfish. We can guess this by the rhetorical question as well. 11. “Since watching the news and reading the news are both elements in the same syndrome, it is hardly surprising that TV news viewing is positively associated with civic involvement. Those of us who rely solely on TV news are not quite as civic in our behavior as our fellow citizens who rely on newspapers, we news watchers are nevertheless more civic than other Americans. Regular viewers of network newscasts ... spend more time on community projects, attend more club meetings, and follow politics much more closely than other Americans.” - This passage does not contain an argument. Words such as “since” indicate that this passage would be described as an explanation. An explanatory passage. They are explaining the topic.