Exercise4.1.4

PHI332 : The Class : Argument Evaluation : Objection & Replies : Exercise4.1.4

Exercise4.1.4: Objections to objections

Just as you can object to an argument, you can also object to an objection or "reply" to it. For example, a reply to my objection above would give reasons why fetal life is a human being in the relevant sense. If your objection was better than mine-that is, it provided an argument-then a reply to your objection would examine the premises of that argument and raise an objection to one or more of them. Notice that, once a reply is stated, we can continue the inquiry by raising an objection to it, and an objection to that, and so on. If we can conclude this process by giving good answers to all objections to our position, we have defended our thesis. It is unlikely that your research paper will successfully defend the thesis that abortion is (or is not) immoral. The issue is too big; there are too many objections and replies to cover. It is much more likely that your research paper will be able to successfully contribute to the thesis that abortion is (or is not) immoral by defending a more restricted thesis, such as "One argument for (against) abortion is poor" or "One objection to an argument for (against) abortion fails (or succeeds)." I'll help you individually to find the right statement of your thesis. Often you won't know until the final draft!

Once you have completed this excercise you should:

Go on to Exercise4.1.5
or
Go back to Objection and Replies

E-mail George Rudebusch at George.Rudebusch@nau.edu
or call (520) 523-7091