What Is a Valid Argument?
What Is a Valid Argument?
You must post to this discussion on at least four separate days of the week, and your posts must total at least 400 words as you address the questions. Your first post must be completed by Day 3 (Thursday) and the remainder of your posts must be completed by Day 7 (Monday). You must answer all aspects of the prompt at some point during the week. Also, reply to your classmates and instructor. Attempt to take the conversation further by examining their claims or arguments in more depth or responding to the posts that they make to you. Keep the discussion on target, and analyze things in as much detail as you can.
The total combined word count for all of your posts for this discussion, counted together, should be at least 400 words. Answer all the questions in the prompt, and read any resources that are required to complete the discussion properly. In order to satisfy the posting requirements for the week, complete your initial post by Day 3 (Thursday) and your other posts by Day 7 (Monday). We recommend that you get into the discussion early and spread out your posts over the course of the week. Reply to your classmates and instructor. Attempt to take the conversation further by examining their claims or arguments in more depth or responding to the posts that they make to you. Keep the discussion on target, and analyze things in as much detail as you can.
The topic of this week is deductive reasoning. Accordingly, in this discussion your task is to create a deductively valid argument for your position (the same position that you defended in the Week One discussion). Prepare Icon Prepare: To prepare to respond to this prompt, make sure to read carefully over Chapter 3 and the required portions of Chapter 4. View the deLaplante (2013) video as well as the other required media for the week. For more guidance about how to construct a valid argument for a controversial position, review the Constructing a Valid Argument video and the document How to Construct a Valid Main Argument. Based on the sources, create a deductively valid argument for the position you defended in the Week One discussion. Reflect Icon Reflect: To make your argument deductively valid, you will need to make sure that there is no possible way that your premises could be true and your conclusion false. Your premises must lead logically to the truth of your conclusion. Make sure that your argument is sound, that is in addition to being valid, make sure that the premises are true as far as you can tell. If your argument is invalid or if it has a false premise, revise it until you get an argument that you can stand behind. Write Icon Write: Identify the components and structure of your argument by presenting your deductively valid argument in standard form, and explain how your conclusion follows from your premises. Discuss Icon Guided Response: Read the arguments presented by your classmates, and analyze the reasoning that they have presented. In particular, if you believe that their argument is invalid, explain a way in which it would be possible for the premises to be true and the conclusion false. If you believe that their argument has a false premise, explain why a reasonable person might take it to be false. Finally, see if you can help them to improve their argument. How can they alter their premises so that all of them are true? What might they change in order to make their argument valid?
this is an example of part of it.
Constructing an Argument Tyler Kuthe Email this Author 9/15/2015 6:40:40 PM
Capital Punishment P1: Under the current Capital Punishment Laws, the crimes that would have to be committed are worthy of death penalty and death row. P2: Most criminals are repeat offenders and cannot be rehabilitated P3: Death row inmates stay on death row for a lengthy amount of time and it is expensive Conclusion: Therefore, capital punishment should be permissible
For my first premise I want to expand on the current law that the United States has for which crimes could result in capital punishment and how many states allow capital punishment. Crimes such as murder and murder is listed in many different ways: first-degree murder, murder of a foreign official, murder for hire, murder during a kidnapping, hostage, carjacking, air craft hijacking and involving torture are only a few of the crimes (Death Penalty Information Center, 2015). These crimes are not only horrible, but they all involve violent behavior that should not be allowed on our streets. For my second premise I want to show the actual numbers of repeat offenders and how many are re-rehabilitated. According to the Bureau of Justice 2002 there were 2.3 million people incarcerated both in jails and in prisons. Within 3 years of the offenders release 67% end up back in the system. (United States Department of Justice, 2015) For the third premise I want to look at the cost that tax payers spend to keep death row inmates incarcerated until their execution date. The average death row inmate stays on death row for an average of 10 years (Death Penalty Information Center, 2015). In California in 2008-2009 the average annual cost for an incarcerated inmate is $47,102. (Legislative Analyst’s Office, 2008-09). The conclusion helps tie in my premises by making the connection between Capital Punishment and why it should be allowed. This is because the crimes that are being committed that result in death penalty are deserving, most criminals are repeat offenders and it costs a lot of tax dollars to keep prisoners housed, clothed, fed and kept healthy. Not only does the fact that these criminals are repeat offenders cost more money in tax dollars to do the same job over and over again, but with the appeal process and the way that our justice system works, inmates on death row can wait on average ten plus years. That as well is driving the costs up.
