Transcript Standardizing and Diagramming Arguments

Types of Reasoning

Inductive reasoning—general claim
supported by sufficient examples.


“Given years of examples, Democrats
favor spending for social programs.”
Deductive reasoning—specific claim
warranted by accepted premises.

“Since John King is a Democrat, we
conclude he favors social spending.”
Tools for Analysis

Scanning.


Identify and mark statements.
Standardizing.
Render complete, definite statements.
 Organize flow toward conclusion.


Diagramming.

Map the argument
Exercise A
3. Because A. it would save insurance
companies a great deal of money, and
thus B. bring down rates of everyone, C.
AIDS testing should be required of
everyone applying for life insurance
policies.
5. A. Recent events in Europe, the former
Soviet Union, and the United States
indicate that B. Europeans are more
likely than Americans to provide moral
leadership for the West as the world
enters the 21st century.
Exercise B1 (standardized)
1. [Because]
A. Americans are already switching for hard
liquor to beer and wine.
also
B. They are switching from high-tar and highnicotine cigarettes to low-war and low-nicotine
cigarettes.
2. These examples show that
C. Americans are turning away from drugcontaining products
3. Thus
D. Legalizing drugs would not be likely to result
in more users
Exercise B3 (standardized)
1. [Because]
A. AIDS victims should be
understood as people with
disabilities.
and
B. discrimination against persons
with disabilities is illegal.
2. Thus
C. Discrimination against AIDS
victims should be illegal.
Exercise B5 (standardized)
1. Because
C. Testing would help identify drug abusers.
and because
D. identifying them is necessary to reducing
health insurance costs.
In addition
E. testing all federal employees for drugs would
provide a good model for private industry to
follow.
2. Although
A. Civil libertarians express concern about the
idea
3. [Thus[
B. Mandatory tests should be required for all
federal employees
Exercise B (diagramed)
1.
A
B
3.
A w/B
5.
C w/D
C
E
C
D
B
A