Arguments and Explanations
Arguments and Explanations
Paper details:
Under exercise only numbers: 5, 6, 7, 8, 11, 12, 13, 16, 17, 20 need to be done. Please follow the instructions under exercises.
1.4 Arcaiments and Explanatioiâus 19 I
premise of the enthymematic argument. The unstated falsehood of the first p
component is the conclusion of the argument. To illustrate, the distinguished
political philosopher John Rawls admired Abraham Lincoln as the president
who most appreciated the moral equality of human beings. Rawls frequently 7_
quoted Lincolnâs enthymematic argument, âIf slavery is not wrong, nothing is
wrong.â It is of course wildly false to say that nothing is wrong-from which it
follows that it is equally false to say that slavery is not wrong."
1.4 Arguments and Explanations
Passages that appear to be arguments are sometimes not arguments but
explanations. The appearance of words that are common indicators-such as
because,â âfor," and âthereforeâ-cannot settle the matter, because those words
are used in both explanations and arguments?r We need to know the intention
of the author. Compare the following two passages:
1. Lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor
rust consumes and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where
your treasure is, there will your heart be also. ' V
-Matt. 7:19
2. Therefore is the name of it [the tower] called Babel; because the Lord
did there confound the language of all the earth.
-Gen.11:l9
The first passage is clearly an argument. Its conclusion, that one ought to
lay up treasures in heaven, is supported by the premise (here marked by the
word "forâ) that oneâs heart will be where oneâs treasure is laid up. The sec-
ond passage, which uses the word âthereforeâ quite appropriately, is not an
argument. It explains why the tower (whose construction is recounted in
Genesis) is called Babel. The tower was given this name, we are told, be- 1
cause it is was the place where humankind, formerly speaking one lan-
guage, became confounded by many languages}c The passage assumes that
Samuel Freeman, âJohn Rawls, Friend and Teacher,â Chronicle of I-iigher Education," 13
December 2002. And Bruno Bettelheim, a survivor of the N azi death camps at Dachau and
Buchemvald (and a distinguished psychiatrist), wrote: âIf all men are good, then there
never was an Auschwitz.â
lThe premise indicator âsinceâ often has a temporal sense as well. Thus, in the lyric of the
famous old song, âStormy Weather," the line âSince my man and I ainât together, keeps
raininâ all the time," is deliberately ambiguous, and richly suggestive. (Music by Harold
Arlen, words by Ted Roehler, 1933.)
1The name âBabel" is derived from the Hebrew word meaningâ to confoundâ-that is, to
confuse by mixing up or lumping together in an indiscriminate manner.