Writing 1

Hi there,

Kindly check the instructions.

Lecture 3

See page 123 for the stages in argumentative analysis

1) Do a
close analysis of the passage containing the argument

2) List all explicit premises and the conclusion in
standard form

· Step 1 (from last time): identify argument markers and compose a list of explicit assumptions and the conclusion

· Step 2: remove irrelevant claims (claims whose truth has no bearing on the truth of the conclusion) and repeated claims (why clutter up the argument with different wordings of the same claim)

· With repeated claims, pick the wording that is most unambiguous and clear to include in your account

· Step 3: check to see if assurances and guarding terms can be omitted from the explicit argument

· Assurances: is the assurance intended to contribute to the argument?

· This isn’t always true, but generally
appeals to authority will need to be retained in the argument
while commenting or expressing the strength of our belief in a claim is usually not a claim that must be retained. The last method of assuring,
conversationally implying reasons, depends entirely on the context and the implication.

· Guarding: the question to ask here is whether the guarding move actually defines the scope of the claim being guarded. Consider:

· “It seems reasonable to think that Meredith is off of work by now, so she can give us a ride to the party”

· In this case it isn’t the “reasonableness” of the belief that entails that Meredith can give a ride. It would be the truth of the fact that she is out of work by now.

· Think of the “reasonableness” term here referring to why we should
allow this premise, not what the premise is
saying

· “Meredith can probably give us a ride to the party since she’s probably off of work by now”

· Here the conclusion is being guarded in the sense that it would be possible to make the stronger claim: “Meredith is able to give us a ride to the party”. The “probably” here cannot be omitted without changing what the argument is about.

· Generally (but not always!), it is less likely you should drop the guarding terms for conclusions than you should for premises.

· EXERCISE 1

3)
Clarify the premises and the conclusion where necessary

· As the book points out, this is a less than perfect ideal.

· What does clarifying mean?

· Reducing ambiguity and vagueness from the claims themselves (with this step we’re just trying to get clear on what is being claimed)

· Sometimes this means rewording, sometimes providing a definition, sometimes using common terms throughout the argument when they are intended that way

· When and why should we do this?

· This is tricky to t