What stops many people from photocopying a book and giving it to a pal is not integrity but logistics; it’s easier and inexpensive to buy your friend a paperback copy.
2.
—Randy Cohen, The New York Times Magazine , ! "arch ### Premise: What
stops many people from photocopying a book and giving it to a pal is not integrity, but logistics.
Conclusion: $t’s
easier and inexpensive to buy your friend a paperback copy. copy.
3. %homas
&'uinas argued that human intelligence is a gift from (od and therefore )to apply human intelligence to understand the *orld is not an a+ront to (od, but is pleasing to him. —Recounted by Charles "urray in Human Accomplishment -e* /ork0 1arperCollins, ##23
Premise: %homas
&'uinas argued that human intelligence is a gift from (od.
%o Conclusion: %o
apply human intelligence to understand the *orld is not an a+ront to (od, but is pleasing to him.
4ir 5dmund 1illary is a hero, not because he *as the 6rst to climb "ount 5verest, but because he never forgot the 4herpas *ho helped him achieve this impossible feat. 1e dedicated his life to helping build schools and hospitals for them.
4.
—7atre —7atre 4. Ra8ashekhar, Ra8ashekhar, )"ount 5verest, National Geographic, 4eptember ##2 Premise: 4ir
5dmund 1ilary dedicated his life to helping build schools and hospitals for the 4herpas *ho helped him climb "ount 5verst
Conclusion: 4ir
5dmund 1illary, for that reason, is a hero.
4tandardi9ed tests have a disparate racial and ethnic impact; *hite and &sian students score, on average, markedly higher than their black and 1ispanic peers. %his is true for fourth:grade tests, college entrance exams, and every other assessment on the books. $f a racial gap is evidence of discrimination, then all tests discriminate.
5.
—&bigail %hernstrom, )%esting, the 5asy %arget, The New York Times, < =anuary ### Premise: 4tandardi9ed
tests have a disparate racial and ethnic impact; *hite and &sian students score, on average, markedly higher than their black and 1ispanic peers. Premise 2: %his
is true for fourth:grade tests, college entrance exams, and every other assessment on the books.
Conclusion: $f
a racial gap is evidence of discrimination, then all tests discriminate.
(ood sense is, of all things in the *orld, the most e'ually distributed, for everybody thinks himself so abundantly provided *ith it that even those most di>cult to please in all other matters do not commonly desire more of it than they already possess. 6.
—Ren? @escartes, A Discourse on Method, !2A
5verybody thinks himself so abundantly provided *ith it that even those most di>cult to please in all other matters do not commonly desire more of it than they already possess. Premise:
Conclusion:
(ood sense is, of all things in the *orld.
When oah Webster proposed a Dictionary of the American Language, his early Bth:century critics presented the follo*ing argument against it0 )ecause any *ords ne* to the Dnited 4tates are either stupid or foreign, there is no such thing as the &merican language; there’s 8ust bad 5nglish. 7.
—=ill Eepore, )oah’s "ark, The New Yorker , ! ovember ##! Premise:
&ny *ords ne* to the Dnited 4tates are either stupid or foreign.
Conclusion: %here
is no such thing as the &merican language; there’s 8ust bad
5nglish. 8. %he
death penalty is too costly. $n e* /ork 4tate alone taxpayers spent more than F## million in our state’s failed death penalty experiment, *ith no one executed. $n addition to being too costly, capital punishment is unfair in its application. %he strongest reason remains the epidemic of exonerations of death ro* inmates upon post:conviction investigation, including ten e* /ork inmates freed in the last G months from long sentences being served for murders or rapes they did not commit. —E. 7orter, )Costly, Hla*ed =ustice, The New York Times, ! "arch ##A Premise:
1ouses are built to live in, not to look on; therefore, let use be preferred before uniformity. 9.
—Hrancis acon, )If uilding, in ssays,
are built to live in, not to look on.
use be preferred before uniformity.
10. %o
boycott a business or a city Jas a protestK is not an act of violence, but it can cause economic harm to many people. %he greater the economic impact of a boycott, the more impressive the statement it makes. &t the same time, the economic conse'uences are likely to be shared by people *ho are innocent of any *rongdoing, and *ho can ill a+ord the loss of income0 hotel *orkers, cab drivers, restaurateurs, and merchants. %he boycott *eapon ought to be used sparingly, if for no other reason than the harm it can cause such bystanders. —&lan Wolfe, )%he Risky 7o*er of the &cademic oycott,
The !hronicle of Higher ducation, A "arch ###
5thnic cleansing *as vie*ed not so long ago as a legitimate tool of foreign policy. $n the early part of the #th century forced population shifts *ere not uncommon; multicultural empires crumbled and nationalism drove the formation of ne*, ethnically homogenous countries. 11.
—elinda Cooper, )%rading 7laces, The New York Times "ook #e$iew, A 4eptember ##!
$f a 8ury is su>ciently unhappy *ith the government’s case or the government’s conduct, it can simply refuse to convict. %his possibility puts po*erful pressure on the state to behave properly. Hor this reason a 8ury is one of the most important protections of a democracy. 12.
—Robert 7recht, )=apan, the =ury, The New York Times, @ecember ##!
Without forests, orangutans cannot survive. %hey spend more than B< percent of their time in the trees, *hich, along *ith vines and termites, provide more than BB percent of their food. %heir only habitat is formed by the tropical rain forests of orneo and 4umatra. 13.
—irute (aldikas, )%he Lanishing "an of the Horest, The New York Times, ! =anuary ##A
Imniscience and omnipotence are mutually incompatible. $f (od is omniscient, he must already kno* ho* he is going to intervene to change the course of history using his omnipotence. ut that means he can’t change his mind about his intervention, *hich means he is not omnipotent. 14.
—Richard @a*kins, The God Delusion -e* /ork0 1oughton "iMin, ##!3 7remise0
Reason is the greatest enemy that faith has; it never comes to the aid of spiritual things, but more fre'uently than not struggles against the divine Word, treating *ith contempt all that emanates from (od. 15.
—"artin Euther, Last %ermon in &itten'erg, A =anuary
Reason never comes to the aid of spiritual things.
"ore fre'uently than not struggles against the divine *ord, treating *ith contempt all that emanates from (od. Premise 2:
Conclusion: Reason
is the greatest enemy that faith has
-http0OO***.slideshare.netORoy4ha+Ologic:*eek:3
