Developing Your Arguments Agenda Substance What is

Developing Your Arguments

Agenda Substance What is an argument? Primary ideas to find Fallacies to avoid Practice task 15 min break Form SEXY PEEL Practice task

Targets Your enlightenment Your communication skills

What is an argument? A well-developed, explained analyzed reason why something is true/not true, should/should not be done Backed by logical reasoning and facts bound together Your ability to persuade depends not only on how bright you are, but primarily On how structured you are On how clear you are

Biggest problem

How do you analyze? Why Why Why …

THW legalize prostitution Why • The current ban unjustifiably limits personal liberty Why • Because every person has a right to do whatever she/he wants with her body Why • Because only a person her/himself can really weigh the costs and benefits of the decision to engage in prostitution

Eventually you come to simple ideas Basic ideas of modern moral philosophy In some form shared by all people Mostly formulated by dead white men more some 200 years ago

Jeremy Bentham (1748 – 1832) Utilitarianism aka Consequentialism

Utilitarianism/Consequentialism People are driven by pleasure and pain (utility) The morality of an action is judged only by its consequences in their totality You need to calculate the amount of pleasure and pain in the world to make a moral choice

Utilitarian argument THW invade Ruritania because [the intervention will do more good than harm] e. g. the local dictator will be eating two babies for every dinner for the next 30 years, and we will kill no more than 100 people in a month-long operation; e. g. the local dictator is about to start a war with all neighboring countries, and we will stop that; THW not invade Ruritania, because [the intervention will do more harm than good] e. g. the local dictator will call his friend and fight till the end using WMD and millions

Utilitarianism evaluated Is intuitively simple Ignores the distribution of “utility units” Allows to explore the nuances of The calculus is always somewhat the situation superficial Allows to produce multiple arguments analyzing costs and benefits for different actors

Immanuel Kant (1724 – 1804) Deontology

Deontology The morality of actions is determined by the actions themselves Actions must fit the categorical imperative Or, putting it simple “What if everyone did like that? ” You need to justify the existence of a rule and its observance in a particular context

Deontological arguments THW invade Ruritania, because no one should stand idly in the face of genocide E. g. whatever the speculation about the future, of we ought to prevent the pure evil of genocide regardless what it takes THW not invade Ruritania, because states should not intervene in each other’s domestic affairs E. g. even if there is something going on in Ruritania, a nationstate system of sovereignty should be preserved to allow free development

Deontology Evaluated Fits better in the unpredictable world May border on irrationality – be careful! Looks more solid than consequentialist arguments Potentially conflicting duties Do not depend on a variety of Ignores the consequences of factual circumstances you might the actions or might not know In general, more difficult to make and explain

Real life and debate Different judges are more inclined to accept either deontological or consequentialist reasoning However, nobody is a pure deontologist or consequentialist these days Therefore, you need to make both kinds of arguments using both kinds of reasoning in their various combinations

Big DON’Ts In real life, we often justify our actions and beliefs by appealing to other sources However, they turn out to be relative and do not work in debating You may think of those things and get inspiration from them, but you must always logically justify their correctness Better not mention them in your speech at all

Big DON’Ts Appeal to emotion: OMG PEOPLE ARE DYING!!!! IMAGINE THAT!!!! Appeal to nature THW would allow adoption by same-sex couples, because two male penguins raised a baby in NY Central Park Zoo THW not create quotas for women on boards, because by their nature, women are for childbearing Appeal to history THBT Germany should not become a UN SC permanent member, because it was defeated 70 years ago

Big DON’Ts Appeal to authority [Religious] THW would ban Sunday trading because Ex. 20: 8 -11 [Legal] THW, as NATO, would not invade Ruritania, because the UN Charter prohibits the use of force without UN SC authorization [Moral status quo] THW not legalize infanticide, because all societies consider it immoral [Authoritative opinion] THW legalize infanticide, because Peter Singer says we should

Big DON’Ts Slippery slope THW not legalize euthanasia, because then everyone will go around killing grannies Corruption THW not fund education in developing countries, because all the money will go into the elites’ pockets Money THW reintroduce the death penalty, because it will save money now spent on locking people up

Big DON’Ts Anecdotes THW allow discrimination against the left-handed, because yesterday a left-handed man gave my friend’s boyfriend’s ex- a black eye Simple assertions: I JUST KNOW IT IS NOT RIGHT! Formal fallacies in general

Big DON’Ts But the winner is of course…

Godwin’s Law THW not implement any restrictions on tobacco smoking, because that’s what Hitler did.

Read more Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy http: //plato. stanford. edu Oxford Handbook of Practical Ethics (available on Google. Books) John Rawls. A Theory of Justice. (a deontological classic) Peter Singer. Practical Ethics. (mind-blowing utilitarianism)

Practice Task

Think of arguments in favor and against the following motions: THW ban abortions at all stages of pregnancy TH, as a western liberal democracy, would assassinate Kim Jong Un THW make voting compulsory THBT when doctors discover a patient has an STD, they should reveal that information to the patients partner

Constructing an argument in your speech

Algorithms SEXY Statement Explanation Example Why PEEL Point Explanation Example Link

Statement/Point [Motion/Inverse], (because …). If you cannot articulate it, neither can the judge Highlights the argument in the outline, in the main part of your speech and in the conclusion YOU

Explanation Most important part The quality of your speech, and thus your result in a debate, depend on how well you do that WHY-Technique

Example Illustration of your analysis Does not need to be a specific situation, can be an plausible abstract case E. g. “Imagine a woman beaten by her husband every other day” E. g. “White Americans cannot adequately represent black Americans because they have never experienced the same problems. For example, they are much less likely to be stopped by the police without any reason” Needs to be clear, colorful, in line with the analysis Anecdotes are not examples

Link Explain the relevance of your analysis To the argument To the motion If the motion is “TH would provide quotas for black Americans in the House of Representatives and the Senate”, and your argument in favour is “White Americans cannot adequately represent black Americans”, The link should be “And thus we will ensure that the interests of blacks are addressed by the legislators”

Once again before you go…. SEXY Statement Explanation Example Why PEEL Point Explanation Example Link

Practice Task

Develop the arguments you prepared in the previous task: THW ban abortions at all stages of pregnancy TH, as a western liberal democracy, would assassinate Kim Jong Un THW make voting compulsory THBT when doctors discover a patient has an STD, they should reveal that information to the patients partner