Chapter Three | Evaluating Moral Arguments
Learning Objectives
» Know the definition and function of statements, premises, conclusions, arguments, and indicator words.
» Be able to determine when an argument is deductive, inductive, valid, invalid, sound, strong, and cogent.
» Be able to recognize the common argument forms known as modus ponens, modus tollens, denying the antecedent, and affirming the consequent.
» Know how to detect implied premises.
» Understand the structure and uses of moral arguments and know how to test moral premises using the counterexample method.
» Understand and be able to identify the fallacies of begging the question, equivocation, slippery slope, appeal to authority, faulty analogy, appeal to ignorance, straw man, appeal to the person, and hasty generalization.
Doing Ethics: Moral Reasoning and Contemporary Issues by Lewis Vaughn
Ethics in the News
New York Times
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Citizen Bruno, Unbound
The federal trial of the former State Senate leader Joseph L. Bruno has put... |
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Animal, Vegetable, Miserable
The free-range turkey debate ignores whether it’s wrong to kill animals for... |
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What to Do With the Boat
The drifting obligation of an abandoned boat; the hazards of hands-free com... |
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A Rebuke, but No Penalty, for an Illinois Senator
A committee found that Senator Roland W. Burris had been less than candid i... |
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Panel to Consider Sanford Impeachment
A South Carolina legislative committee will convene to begin preliminary im... |