CHAPTER 8
EVALUATING EXTENDED ARGUMENTS
I.
Brief Chapter Outline
1. The Basic Tasks of Essay Evaluation
Find the Thesis and Keep It in Mind
Find the Reasons that Support the Thesis
Identify the Evidence
Identify Responses to Likely Objections or Counterarguments
Skip Whatever Doesn’t Argue for (or Against) the Thesis
Add Relevant Information or Reasons
Consider Tone and Emotive Language
Come to an Evaluation
Exercise 8-1
Exercise 8-2
Exercise 8-3
2. The Margin Note and Summary method
3. Extended Evaluation of an Argument
Analysis
Exercise 8-4
4. Dealing with Value Claims
Exercise 8-5
Exercise 8-6
Exercise 8-7
Exercise 8-8
5. Evaluating Ironic Works
Exercise 8-9
Summary of Chapter 8
II.
List of Key Terms
Analysis
Assumptions
Charity
Comparison of Alternatives
Essays
Evidence
Irony
Margin note and summary method
Objections
Objective
Principle of just deserts
Pro and con argument
Refutation to counterarguments
Subjective
Thesis
Value claims
III.
Chapter Summary
The main aim of this Chapter is the evaluation of essays that argue to a conclusion.
The authors outline a method of essay evaluation that starts with the reader finding
the thesis and keeping it in mind. She should then find the reasons that support the
thesis, and identify the evidence that is offered to support these reasons. The reader
should then identify responses offered in the essay to likely objections to it, skipping
whatever doesn’t argue for or against the thesis. The reader should also try to add
relevant information or reasons to the argument, to make it the best one that they can
for the conclusion supported. She should also consider the author’s use of tone or
emotive language, and then come to an evaluation of the essay in question. The reader
might employ the margin note and summary method to aid her in evaluating an
argument.
The authors note that evaluating value claims is different from evaluating factual
claims.
IV.
Practice Questions
A.Objective Multiple Choice
1. Extended passages are also called
a. Advertisements
b. Briefs
c. Newspapers
d. Essays
2. A thesis is
a. The overall conclusion of the passage
b. Something offered in support of a conclusion
c. A type of premise
d. Someone who believes in a god
3. An essay that argues for a course of action by showing that likely alternatives are
less desirable is
a. Begging the question
b. Arguing by comparison of alternatives
c. Misleading
d. A straw man approach
4. An essay that weights the merits and demerits of a possible course of action is a
a. Pro and con argument
b. Con trick argument
c. Professional argument
d. Fallacious argument
5. The first thing the authors suggest one do in evaluating an essay is
a. Assess the author’s credentials
b. Find the thesis
c. Keep the thesis in mind
d. Assess the author’s reasoning
6. The reasons that support an essay’s thesis are the
a. Conclusions
b. Premises
c. Extensions
d. Evidence
7. In any essay, there can be
a. Only one conclusion
b. Only one reason for the conclusion
c. Many reasons for the conclusion
d. Only one objection considered
8. Flavoring material
a. Makes essay reading more fun, but shouldn’t influence the assessment of an
argument
b. Makes essay reading more fun, and is relevant to the argument
c. Makes essay reading tedious, and is relevant to the argument
d. Is a form of fallacious reasoning
9. When considering tone and emotive language a reader should
a. Regard them as being fallacious
b. Read the argument as though they were not there
c. Accept them as flavoring only
d. Guard against their undue influence
10. The last thing a reader needs to do when evaluating an argument is to
a. Reject it
b. Accept it
c. Come to an evaluation of it
d. Refrain from evaluating it
11. We should skip
a. Whatever doesn’t argue for a thesis
b. Whatever doesn’t argue against a thesis
c. Whatever doesn’t argue for, and whatever doesn’t argue against, a thesis
d. Whatever is based on modus ponens
12. A writer’s starting points are known as
a. Assumptions
b. Premises
c. Thesis
d. Introductions
13. If a subsidiary argument in a long essay is fallacious we should
a. Reject the essay as a whole
b. Realize that the author is deceiving us
c. Reject the conclusion
d. Reject only the tainted aspects of the essay
14. Poems
a. Never argue for conclusions
b. Should be read for pleasure only
c. Are forms of fallacious reasoning
d. Often argue for a conclusion
15. The margin note and summary method requires the summary to be
a. Marginal
b. Long
c. Accurate
d. Extended
16. According to the authors, perfectly reasoned, totally convincing arguments
a. Are written only by philosophers
b. Are never offered by politicians
c. Do not exist
d. Frequently occur in advertisements
17. According to the authors many philosophers claim that value judgments concern
matters that are
a. Objective
b. Subjective
c. Valuable
d. Trivial
18. Judgments about alleged facts are
a. Objective
b. Subjective
c. Valuable
d. Trivial
19. The idea that one should reap as one sows is based on
a. The principle of just deserts
b. The principle of retribution
c. The principle of proportionality
d. The principle of allocation
20. Irony occurs when one
a. Writes one thing but means something different
b. Is firm in one’s conclusion
c. Uses fallacious arguments
d. Writes poor prose
B.True/False
1. Moral claims are necessarily subjective.
2. Factual claims are necessarily objective.
3. Philosophers agree on what is objective and what is subjective.
4. Extended arguments are often fallacious.
5. Tone is irrelevant in assessing extended arguments.
6. Essays often provide a refutation to counterarguments.
7. This chapter applies only to written arguments.
8. The main conclusion of an essay is the primary premise.
9. Swift believed that we should eat Irish children.
10. The reader should never try to make the argument she is evaluating as strong
as possible.
11. One should always assess the weakest form of the argument one is
considering.
12. The reader’s background beliefs are important in assessing an argument.
13. Poems never have conclusions.
14. We should rely on our gut instincts to assess an argument.
15. Clarence Darrow favored the death penalty.
C.Fill-in-the-Blanks
1. Simple _______ can be used to persuade.
2. Explaining something can be used to _____ .
3. Argumentative essays present _____ for ______ .
4. According to the authors an essay’s thesis is not always ____.
5. After locating an essay’s thesis we should try to ______ .
6. Reasons often need ______ .
7. We should bring ______ to bear when evaluating arguments.
8. If it is the case that if the premises are true the conclusion is necessarily true
then the argument is ______ .
9. Being fair to the other side if often termed the principle of _____ .
10. Sometimes a reason or a thesis might be _____ rather than explicit.
D.Essay Questions
1. Write an evaluation of Swift’s essay “A Modest Proposal” (a link to this is
contained in section V.B.) Do you agree with Swift’s conclusion, or not?
What relevance could his arguments have for modern debates over welfare
reform?
2. Find a poem that argues for a conclusion and evaluate it. Do you think that
arguing for a conclusion through a poem is more or less effective that arguing
for it in prose?
3. Do you believe that using pure narration to persuade people of a position is a
legitimate form of persuasion, or not? Explain your argument, and illustrate it
with samples of such narration.
4. Find an argumentative essay from a reputable newspaper such as the New
York Times and use the margin note and summary method to evaluate it.
Explain your evaluation, drawing on the techniques used for evaluating essays
discussed in this Chapter.
5. Find an argument that the authors of this textbook have themselves used
within it to persuade you to accept their views, and subject it to the techniques
discussed in this Chapter. Do you think that you should be persuaded by what
they have to say, or not? Can you see any irony in deciding that you should
not be persuaded by them after evaluating their arguments in this way?
V.
Additional Sources for Study and Research
A.InfoTrac Search Terms
Andrew Marvell, Capital Punishment, Clarence Darrow, Date Rape, Democracy,
Essays, Ethics, Expertise, Jonathan Swift, Principle of Charity
B.Internet Sites
Jonathan Swift, “A Modest Proposal”
http://art-bin.com/art/omodest.html
Tips on Writing a Philosophy Paper
http://www.public.asu.edu/~dportmor/tips.pdf
Argument analysis
http://philosophy.hku.hk/think/arg/
Being More Critical
http://beingmorecritical.org/book-in-progress/i-criticisms/i-5-arguments-and-criticism
GRE Analytical Writing
http://www.west.net/~stewart/gre/aa_sampl.htm
VI.
Answer Key
A.Objective Multiple Choice
1. d
2. a
3. b
4. a
5. b
6. b
7. c
8. a
9. d
10. c
11. c
12. a
13. d
14. d
15. c
16. c
17. b
18. a
19. a
20. a
B.True/False
1. F
2. T
3. F
4. F
5. F
6. T
7. F
8. F
9. F
10. F
11. F
12. T
13. F
14. F
15. F
C.Fill-in-the-Blanks
1. Narration
2. Persuade others
3. Reasons/conclusions
4. Obvious
5. Locate the reasons offered for it
6. Supporting evidence
7. Relevant background information
8. Valid
9. Charity
10. Implied