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10 Lessons. Deductive over inductive logic Defining terms in the prompt Micro examples, macro questions Straw Man Losing the prompt Begging the question Linking premises The downside of bulldogging Cherry picking The problem with analogies. The 11 th lesson….
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10 Lessons • Deductive over inductive logic • Defining terms in the prompt • Micro examples, macro questions • Straw Man • Losing the prompt • Begging the question • Linking premises • The downside of bulldogging • Cherry picking • The problem with analogies
The 11th lesson… Hitler was referenced in 10 of the 28 essays I graded, a full 35%.
Deductive vs. inductive • Deductive reason goes from general to specific. • Inductive goes from specific to general. • Inductive arguments are vulnerable to statistics.
Inductive argument, 2 • Social change through power results in bloodshed and, sometimes, failure. • Social change through patience has less bloodshed, and usually succeeds. • What are the actual odds?
Defining terms in the prompt • It takes time for developing countries to grow • Countries must develop by having a larger population • Population growth requires time and patience. • What kind of social change are we talking about there?
Example 2 • “The nice teacher is good for your grades, but do you really learn anything? But even if the pushy teacher seems crabby, you’ll find that you learned more.” • What does this suggest about the author’s definition for power and patience?
Eye on the Prize • Using power causes fights • Using patience does not • It’s probably better to be patient • This answers a different prompt.
Eye on the Prize, 2 • Everything needs time • Time means patience • Everything needs patience • Prompt wants you to prove one is better than the other. This could be true… and power could still be far superior.
Begging the Question • The formula: “A is true because A is true” • An example: • Power is a powerful way to change society • [unimportant] • Power is an important force of social change.
Begging the question, 2 • If you have power, people will listen to you. • Waiting won’t get you anywhere. • With too much patience, people won’t listen to you since you’ve been waiting the whole time. • Therefore, if you want people to listen to you, have power. • #1 & #4 say nearly the same thing.
Linking Premises • Violence doesn’t solve anything well. • Power comes after violence. • Power is uncontrollable.
Argument Balance • Power changes law, history, and behavior. • No mention of patience.
Better balance • “Still, some say when resorting to patience, nothing ever gets done. However, by using power to forcefully change society, is this making any progress? It is quite the opposite. When using force, the progress is often backwards… we must rebuild what was destroyed.”
Positivity • Stone’s argument: patience causes some good things. Power is faster and the changes are larger, negative. • Body paragraphs: the failures of Nazism and Marxism • Could use one example of power being implemented positively.
Positivity, 3 • “Dictators like Adolf Hitler are truly once-in-a-lifetime.” • (Footnote: “I’m not supporting Hitler…”) • Important to establish your relationship to your examples.
Positivity 4/Cherry Picking “After the depression following WW1, Germany’s economy was devastated. Hitler stepped in as dictator and brought Germany back onto the path of recovery.”
The problem of analogies. • “If there’s a fire at the park and firemen just wait patiently for the fire to go out, the fire would just get bigger and bigger, causing deaths, anger, and unhappiness.” • “I always wanted a pet so when the school asked for a persuasive essay I wrote one about that. After a few years I finally got a hamster. If I threatened my mom and dad, I would not have a pet today.”
Society is not a hamster, nor a fire. • Necessarily imperfect, because the objects being compared will differ in some way. It’s up for debate how crucial these differences are. What is the essence of the object? Is a pencil more similar to a banana than an orange, since the pencil and banana are both yellow? • So: what are convincing analogies? What’s a convincing patience argument?
Some straw men I saw • “Patient people don’t do anything. They just wait around.” • All power is dictatorship / Power can only harm
Give me your best shot • College football, strength of schedule. • “Yeah, but who have they beaten?” • Honorable combat, Princess Bride • Practice formulating your opponent’s best possible argument.
Patience Arguments • Erosion • Force spread out over a long time • Evolution • The appearance of directedness through a blind process of differential survival. • Problems bigger than dictators • Even the most absolute ruler does not have the clout to fix society’s greatest ills. Pay in installments.
There are three kinds of crime. • (opportunity, desperation, premeditation) • Cameras only prevent crimes of opportunity. • Therefore, cameras are ineffective.
America is not linguistically diverse. • English is the primary language. • To fully participate in society, you need to speak that society’s primary language. • Therefore, you need to speak English to fully participate in American society. • Therefore, this will help in the short term but hurt in the long run.
