Argument? Yes
Conclusion: I might as well stop and get breakfast
Additional premises needed: If the person was hungry then breakfast would make more sense.
Identify any subargument: 2,3,4 are supportive in being late, but they don't support 1.
Good Argument? No, horrible argument, if you're late don't be even later. If you're hungry and dying of starvation then eat.
This exercise doesn't really help in my opinion. I mean it's nice to be able to pick apart arguments, but this seems useless to me. I understand it's a good skill to have, but I don't think it's good in this format. This kind of robotic and it seems like it takes the emotion out of claims. I feel arguments though logical, can still be swayed by emotion and body language, not just claims.
I agree with what you said on the last part, about it not being a good argument because i do not think there is enough good or solid evidence that will support the argument. I also agree that the person should eat because if you are already late, there is no reason why you should let your hunger suffer as well. I think that is not a good exercise either because it does not have the materials to actually help you out to understand the statements more. Overall, i think that you did a great job pinpointing out which statement is which.
ReplyDeleteHi,
ReplyDeleteI like how you organized the different parts of the argument. It helped me see it more clearly. But I also agree with opinion that this exercise is not very useful in telling whether an argument is good or not. The explanation in the book is rather unclear and it's not very easy to follow to complete this for every argument. You are also right about how this exercise taking the emotion out of the context. It makes it more mechanical and less psychological. An good argument often moves us emotionally in order to be effective but it is hard to find the emotion by picking out its parts. This exercise helps in seeing the structure of a good argument but does not really help with finding the right context and meaning.