2. Select a topic from the list below and construct an argument using the eight steps listed on page 195 — and discussed on pages 186-192. Warning: Please make sure you work on one of the issues listed — no other arguments will be accepted! 3. Make sure you fully understand what COMPLETENESS means (pages 186-7) OK, let me mention a fundamentally important part of it: You must look at and CONSIDER the opposing arguments (as every Inductive argument must). It means that listing them is not good enough; you have to say which premises you find true or strong (and why) and which ones you find false or weak (and why) — otherwise your argument would be one-sided. Obviously, accepting certain premises against our argument will not make it weaker since every issue is complex. 4. Strong feelings or even high passion are not elements of critical thinking; only reason is, as well as factual information. Morality, religion, value judgments, desires, wishes, preferences, tastes, likes, and dislikes do not make good subjects for critical arguments! Why? Because others may have other dislikes and likes, tastes, preferences, wishes, desires, value judgments, religion or morality, and the answer to the question regarding those, ‘why do they prefer what they prefer instead of what we prefer’ the answer is just because? End of story.
Issues to choose from:
1. Bullying is a problem in the USA and people tend to bully bullies as ‘punishment.’ Should bullies be bullied? 2. Should school uniforms be mandated? 3. Plastic bags are an enormously huge environmental problem and many countries (and cities) have banned them. Should they be banned in the US? 4. Music and art may seem like ‘useless’ subjects in school, but research shows that they are useful in the development of youth. Should they be mandated in school? S. Should child beauty competitions be banned? 6. Is it morally acceptable to treat juveniles ‘as adults’ (how young)? 7. Should for-profit private prisons exist?
Tits short article may help: http://bigthink.com/in-their-own-words/how-to-have-a-good-argument-with-yourself Student Paper (Sample) Should we legalize Marijuana? (issue) My opinion is that the USA should at least decriminalize recreational marijuana use. (conclusion) My reasons: 1. Prohibition does not seem to work. Millions smoke marijuana regularly, creating an impression in the youth that breaking the law is OK if one thinks the law is stupid since ‘everyone’ is doing it. Any teenager in any big city can buy marijuana if he or she wants to within a couple of hours of deciding to do it. 2. The illegal sales of marijuana sustain a network of criminal enterprises, leading to murderous turf wars. 3. The illegal sales of marijuana provide profit for traffickers, but its legalization would provide a (huge?) windfall in taxes and save even more on policing and persecuting its use 4. Prisons are MI of people whose only crime was to possess marijuana. They are treated like any other criminals at an enormous cost to us, themselves, and their families, even though they represent no real danger to society. 5. Marijuana is a mild hallucinogen and hallucinogens are chemically not addictive as opposed to many legal substances like caffeine, nicotine, alcohol, certain foods, and many prescription drugs and only prescription drugs are regulated and restricted, the rest is unregulated. 6. Marijuana is not really dangerous and it is highly hypocritical to keep marijuana illegal while other ‘vices’ are legal and taxed. Smoking, drinking, and obesity altogether kill almost 800, 000 people each year in the US, while the opponents of marijuana failed to prove even a single death related to it since its regulation and restriction started nearly 150 years ago. 150 years should have been enough time to prove its allegedly horrific dangers.