“I swim every day so I’m in good shape.”
This argument is on its way to being good but is missing a necessary premise. The missing premise is “Swimming is very healthy and gets you in good shape.” This is repairing the argument because: it makes it stronger, the added premise is plausible and would seem plausible to whom I’m speaking to, and the premise is more plausible than the conclusion. We can also add an indicator word “therefore,” to let us know the conclusion is coming. Now the argument would look like this:
“I swim every day. Swimming is very healthy and gets you in good shape. Therefore, I’m in good shape.”
This is a strong argument now because the premises are very plausible and definitely set up the conclusion. However, there are factors that could prove this false. For instance, what speed are we swimming? How many laps are being swam? Things like that could change whether or not an individual is in good shape. Nonetheless, most people who swim every day are going to be in pretty good shape.
Tell ‘Em,
ReplyDeleteI was kind of confused on this section and your example really helped me to understand it a little bit better. Your added premise to connect your argument to your conclusion definitely strengthens your overall argument. From at first reading your blog without reading this section of the book I was confused as to why there was a problem with your original argument since I just assumed that people who swim everyday should be in shape. After reading your ways to make your argument better I agree that adding in the extra premise definitely helps to give your argument more validity.
Your sample was very clarifying for me. Your example was simple enough that it made the lesson very clear. The premise you added made the argument stronger than it was to begin with. Since you saying swimming will get into shape I believed it because it is a type of exercise. The problem is that I may not know that swimming does get a person into shape so the premise you added makes me know that swimming is an exercise that is body building
ReplyDelete