worksheet

Necessary and Sufficient Conditions Argument Identification and Evaluation

Consider four arguments on the death penalty offered by Michael Dukakis and George Bush during a 1988 Presidential debate and Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders during a 2016 Democratic nomination debate (see video). You will find it on YouTube or google

Two tasks: ONE PAGE IS ENOUGH,

1. Reconstruct each of the four arguments. Be charitable but accurate in your interpretations. 2. Evaluate each argument using our terminology. Briefly explain your evaluations. (A paragraph for each is enough, but you are welcome to write more.) Please attempt to evaluate the arguments independent of your attitudes toward the particular politicians or their political allegiances.

Here’s example:

1. There are better and effective ways to deal with violent crimes

2. We’ve done so in my own state, that is why we have had the biggest drop in crime in any industrial state in America and the lowest murder rate of any state in America

Argument1

1. There are more effective ways to deal with violent crimes than with the death penalty. The death penalty is not a deterrent to violent crimes. Therefore, the death penalty should not be legal.

1. Explanation

· Argument 2

There are crimes that are so heinous that the death penalty would be the only understandable punishment. Therefore, the death penalty should be lega