Module 1: What are the Issue, Conclusion, and Reasons? ISSUE The issue can be defined as the controversy or the topic. CONCLUSION The conclusion can be defined as the thesis or the point that the
A Case for the Death Penalty (1) Troy Davis, 42, died at 11:08 p.m. according to the Georgia Department of Corrections. (2) His death by lethal injection came 19 years after he was convicted by a jury of his peers for the brutal murder of off duty police officer Mark MacPhail. (3) Moments before his execution, Davis reportedly told the family of Mr. MacPail, “I’m not the one who personally killed your son, your father, your brother. I am innocent.” (4) Mr. Davis’ newfound reverence for life, stems in no small part, from the fact that he was about to lose his own. (5) Life is precious and the death penalty just reaffirms that fact. (6) I support the death penalty for cop killers and heinous crimes of murder. (7) The death penalty is a deterrent. (8) Without a doubt, Mr. Davis will never kill again. (9) We don’t have to like the death penalty in order to support it. (10) We must fight fire with fire. (11) If someone comes down with cancer, it may be necessary to take radical steps to cure the cancer: radical surgery, radiation, and chemotherapy. (12) The disease in this case is injustice. (13) Should this cop killer be given clemency? (14) We may not like the death penalty, but it must be available for such heinous crimes; otherwise, we are giving criminals, like Mr. Davis, a license to kill. (15) The evidence is clear. (16) When executions went down, the number of murders went up. (17) Looking at the data from 1950-2002, the murder rate went from 4.6 per 100,000 population in 1951 to 10.2 per 100,000 population in 1980, as executions went to zero during the period the Supreme Court declared capital punishment unconstitutional. (18) Execution resumed in 1977. (19) As you can see, the murder rate once again declined (see chart below). (20) Opponents of the death penalty often make the argument that we might kill an innocent person. (21) Mark MacPail was an innocent person who was executed by Mr. Davis. (22) He received no appeals to the Supreme Court; no appeals for clemency. (23) Mr. Davis killed in cold blood. (24) It is fallacy to argue that the death penalty should be abolished because an innocent person might die. (25) Innocent persons are dying all the time; however, only the murderers have the chance to appeal their sentence. (26) In 2010, fifty-six police officers were killed in the line of duty in the US. (27) No doubt by someone who had murdered before. (28) Even life in prison does not guarantee that they will not kill again. (29) All too often, these individuals kill again in prison. (30) Life without parole does not always mean life without parole. (31) California is about to release teen murderers, including cop killers, who were sentenced to life without parole for their crimes. (32) When we lower the penalty for murder, it diminishes regard for the value of the victim’s life. (33) Support for the death penalty comes from a surprising group of people—Kant, Locke, Hobbes, Rousseau, Montesquieu, and Mill agreed that natural law properly authorizes the State to take life in order to administer justice. (34) Washington, Jefferson, and Franklin endorsed it. Abraham Lincoln authorized executions for deserters in wartime. (35) Alexis de Tocqueville, the author of Democracy in America, believed that the death penalty was essential to the support of social order. (36) The United States Constitution condemns cruel and inhuman punishment, but does not condemn capital punishment. (37) Rick Perry stated that,” Texas has a very thoughtful, lengthy, and clear process, which ensures everyone a fair hearing, so there is no need to lose sleep over the possibility of executing an innocent person”. (38) The appeals process is indeed lengthy. (39) Mr. Davis had 19 years of appeals and the Supreme Court reaffirmed his guilt. (40) Finally justice has been served.
Module 1: What are the Issue, Conclusion, and Reasons? ISSUE The issue can be defined as the controversy or the topic. CONCLUSION The conclusion can be defined as the thesis or the point that the
Module 1 Chapter 3: What are the Issue, Conclusion, and Reasons? ISSUE The issue can be defined as the controversy or the topic. CONCLUSION The conclusion can be defined as the thesis or the point that the communicator is trying to make. Before you can evaluate a communicator’s message, you must be able to identify the structural components of their argument. If a structural component of an argument is absent, you can dismiss the argument as flawed. The issue and the conclusion go hand in hand. One technique that you may use to determine if you have correctly identified the issue and the conclusion is to rephrase them in question and answer form. If you rephrase the issue into the form of a question, the conclusion that you have identified should answer that question. TYPES OF ISSUES * Descriptive Issues Descriptive issues raise questions about the accuracy of descriptions of the past, present, or future. These issues, or arguments, tell us something about how the world was, is, or is going to be. * Prescriptive Issues Prescriptive issues raise questions about what we should do or what is right or wrong, good or bad. Consider the analogy of a doctor prescribing medicine to solve a medical problem. A prescriptive issue, or argument, attempts to solve a tangible problem with a solution that advocated how things ought to be. Searching for the Issue Ideally, the issue should be easy to find. The communicator should explicitly state the issue in obvious places, such as the title, introduction, or the thesis statement. However, for many reasons, the issue is not explicitly stated but rather implied. In order to identify the issue you must first find the conclusion. Searching for the Conclusion The conclusion is the thesis of the argument, the point that is being communicated; it is the thing that the communicator wants you to accept and to believe. Ask yourself, “What does this person want me to believe”, “What is this person trying to prove?” The answer to these questions will be the conclusion. Another helpful hint is to search for inferences. Inferences are examples of deductive reasoning. This happened because of that. This refers to the conclusion and that refers to the support for the conclusion. HOW TO FIND THE CONCLUSION *Ask what the issue is. The issue and the conclusion go hand in hand. The conclusion is a response to the issue. If you know what the issue is, you should be able to determine the conclusion. *Look for indicator words. When conveying a conclusion a communicator will use certain words to alert you to it. When someone says, “In conclusion”, or “In the final analysis”, you should realize that the conclusion will be following. *Look in likely locations. Conclusions should be found in at least two locations. First, the conclusion should be in the thesis statement at the beginning of an argument, where it is introduced for the first time. Second, the conclusion should be at the end of an argument, where it is summarized and supported. *Remember what a conclusion is not. Many people confuse the conclusion with other things. The most common mistake is to confuse the conclusion with examples, statistics, definitions, background information, and evidence. These items are not conclusions but rather are the support used for them. What are the Reasons? REASONS Reasons are beliefs, evidence, metaphors, analogies, and other statements offered to support or justify a conclusion. When a communicator has a conclusion that they want you to accept, they must present reasons to persuade you that they are right and show you why. Even though you may have identified the issue and the conclusion, you cannot begin to evaluate a communicator’s message until you have completely identified the final structural component of an argument, the reasons. An unsubstantiated statement, or a conclusion with no reasons, is not an argument but merely an opinion. The function of a reason is to support the conclusion. To be able to identify a reason and understand how it supports the conclusion is all that is required for now. Later on, we will spend more time on assessing the quality of reasons. TIPS ON FINDING REASONS *Initiating the Questioning Process The first thing a critical thinker must do in order to identify reasons is to ask a series of “why?” questions. “Why does the communicator want me to believe this?”, “Why should I believe them?”, “What proof would I need in order to accept this conclusion?” *Indicator Words Just like conclusions, communicators use indicator words that signal you that they are about to provide you with a reason. Remember the brief review of inferences in chapter two? When you encounter a statement like “as a result of”, or “because of that”, you can be assured that a reason is about to be revealed. A phrase such as “first…second… third”, tells you that there a number of reasons that are going to be provided. *Types of Reasons Chapters eight through eleven will go into extensive detail on all of the various types of evidence and reasons. For now, let us keep things simple. Descriptive arguments usually require evidence. Prescriptive arguments require either prescriptive statements or descriptive statements. Later on, we will learn how to judge the quality of an argument by its reasons.