Phl 458 - Evaluating Truth and Validity Exercise

Evaluating Truth and Validity Exercise

PHL/458

September 15, 2014

First Argument- J

Week three assignment was to evaluate arguments from scenarios in the applications list 12.2 (a.-y.) at the end of Ch. 12 in The Art of Thinking using the 4-stepm process while explaining the assessment and adding an alternative argumentation where need be. I will begin with the premise that “Power must be evil because it can corrupt people” which is in exercise j. Step one, I would verify that the argument was stated clear and complete for any hidden premises. The argument did not hold the water once checked for errors affecting the truth although it seemed to have past the first obstacle. Due to the many previous individuals throughout history who had power and were never corrupted proves that the argued statement “power corrupts all people” is not true. I believe that “power may be considered evil if put into the wrong hands” would be a more valid argument.

The argument failed on several objectives once the reasoning’s that linked conclusions to premises determined whether the conclusion is illegitimate or legitimate and validity errors are considered during the evaluation process in step three. Questions such as “How corrupt do an individual have to become before considered evil?” need to be answered when revising the statement. Individuals who have done corrupt things still does not label them as evil. One may ask what would be considered evil or what would be acceptable or unacceptable but yet still not categorized as evil? So with picking that statement apart and showing all the flaws it is only best to move on to a different argument and throw this one out. Evil is defined as some type of supernatural force or profound immorality and powers used for evil purposes will have evil results. So that tells you that if power is in the right hands there will be good results.

Second Argument- N

Exercise n will be the last argument which states, “Nuclear power is a threat to world peace.” Nuclear power is generated by nuclear energy stations which makes the statement not true. The hidden premise process and verifying that the statement was complete and clear was the first step done. Checking for errors affecting the truth was the next step. Just reading the statement as is, “Nuclear power is a threat to world peace”, is written falsely. It should read “Nuclear