Organizing Arguments

   The present assignment asks you to formulate and record a claim and a counterclaim relating to your question. Below each one, list arguments, reasoning, evidence and examples that can be used to support it. A good philosopher takes both claim and counterclaim seriously.

     A claim positively asserts an answer to a question. For example, to the question, "Is it more important for society to be lawful or fair?" one could claim, "It is more important for society to be lawful than to be fair." A counterclaim would be, "It is more important for society to be fair than lawful."

     Question: Is it more important for society to be lawful or fair?

     Claim: It is more important for society to be lawful than fair.

     Counterclaim: It is more important for society to be fair than lawful.

     Once you have formulated your claim and counterclaim, list some arguments you will use to support each. An argument is an organized series of reasons that together aim to justify belief in a particular conclusion about a given subject. Good arguments follow basic principles of logic and, ideally, assure us that the conclusions we want our audience to draw from our presentation will arise naturally and perhaps even obviously from a careful consideration of relevant facts, common principles, shared assumptions, and the like. For the purposes of this assignment, you should rely on two main sources of evidence, the authority of the posted learning resources, especially the primary text, and your own life experience.

     Your organized claims, counterclaims, arguments, and evidence should be drawn up in a text document to look like an outline. Do not use a flowchart, stem diagram, or other format for this assignment. In Stage 3 you will be asked to flesh out, polish, and refine each step in your main argument to create the bulk of your essay, and to include a section that refutes a condensed version of your counterargument