PHI332 : The
Class : Argument
ID : Independent Premises
Topic 4: Independent and Linked Premises
Notice, as we go along, that the process of
pinning down an argument, like a specimen to examine, helps detach us from our
emotions. In health care settings, it is often difficult to talk about some issues
because some parties to the conversation cannot help but get angry or hurt or
emotionally involved in ways that keep the conversation from being rational. (I'm
not saying we should ignore our emotional responses in ethics: that is a much
more complex question, and I think the answer must be sometimes yes, sometimes
no. For example, Kass, in "The Wisdom of Repugnance," (pp. 496-510),
argues, perhaps wisely--perhaps not!--that we should use our emotional response
to judge the case of human cloning. But notice that his appeal to emotion does
not keep him from presenting a clear argument.) Just as nurses are trained to
be "clinical" in horrifying situations, so that they can function and
do some good, so too argument analyzers are clinical in examining arguments. You
are ready to try this clinical approach in a conversation now: When people are
getting heated about an ethical or other issues, you can cool things down by helping
the other person to state his premises as clearly as possible. Ask questions like,
"I'm pretty sure that the point you want to prove is lah-de-dah, but I'm
not sure what the reason is that you're giving. Is it blah-blah?" You ask
this not to trick or fluster the other person, but to help them state their reasoning
the very best they can.
Let me show you now a more complex diagram, to use when you have independent
premises for the same conclusion. Examples 1, 2, and 3 each stand alone
as a pro-choice argument.
- Fetuses are not persons. Abortion is, therefore, not wrongful killing.
- Fetuses are not rational agents. Hence abortion is permissible.
- Fetuses are not social beings. This shows that abortion is not wrong.
But you will often find independent premises combined into one argument.
For example:
- Fetuses are not persons; they are not rational agents, nor are they social
beings. For all of these reasons, abortion is permissible.
Here is a diagram: 
Key:
a = Fetuses are not persons.
b = Fetuses are not rational agents.
c = Fetuses are not social beings
d = Abortion is permissible.
In contrast to independent premises, linked premises work together to reach
a conclusion. Consider the following argument (which I write in three different
ways for you to observe):
- Being a person is what gives an individual a right to life. Therefore fetuses
have no right to life, since they are not persons.
- Fetuses are not persons. But being a person is what gives an individual
a right to life. So fetuses have no right to life.
- Fetuses have no right to life, because being a person is what gives an individual
a right to life, and fetuses are not persons.
To complete this topic successfully, do as many of the following exercises
as you find necessary to acquire the relevant skill. You have acquired the relevant
skill when your answers to exercises are reliably either the same as the
given answers or are alternative answers you can explain and defend:
ASSIGNMENT
1: Exercise2.4.1
ASSIGNMENT
2: Exercise2.4.2
ASSIGNMENT
3: Exercise2.4.3
ASSIGNMENT
4: Exercise2.4.4
Once you have completed this module you should:
Go on to Topic
5: Premise Conclusion
or
Go back to Argument
ID
E-mail George Rudebusch at George.Rudebusch@nau.edu
or call (520) 523-7091
