Reductio ad absurdum Essays

‘Common Decency’ written by Susan Jacoby, an American author, was originally published in the New York Times in April 1991. The main idea of Jacoby’s essay “Common Decency “ which was a written response to Camille Pagalia’s book “Sexual Personae “deals with the controversy over “date rape” and mixed signals between men and women. According to Jacoby, “Most date rapes do not happen because a man honestly mistakes a woman’s “no” for “yes” or a “maybe”. They occur because a minority of men –an ugly

The philosopher William Paley discussed the existence of God in the so called the teleological argument. The teleological argument is also known as Intelligent Design, or the argument from design. In order to explain the existence of God, William Paley gave us what is known as an argument by analogy. This form of inductive argument invites us to consider a particular state of affairs. For instance, let us set two situations; situation A for which we are already likely to have certain beliefs, and

A picture is worth a thousand words. This saying is very relevant when looking at the images C-1 and C-4 in Reading and Writing Across the Curriculum. Not only are you able to tell what the two ads are trying to sell, but if you look closer, you can see the big idea behind them both. Not only are they tell the viewer what is considered attractive in today’s society, but it also shows how contradicting society can be. Figure C-1 simple shows a man and woman walking next to each other. They are both

There are many ways to find out how individuals would react in certain situations, for example, by putting individuals in a simulation. Causing stress and discomfort to individuals in order to gain knowledge is at times necessary. For example, Stanley Milgram’s experiments which focus on obedience to authority and the extent a person is willing to ignore their own ethical beliefs and cause pain to another individual, just because he is ordered to do so. Stanley Milgram writes about his experiments

O’Brien attacks Winston and calls him a “lunatic…. a minority of one.” O’Brien uses ad hominem and attacks Winston’s character, which has nothing to do with the argument. Next, O’Brien asks questions and makes statements like “you are no metaphysician…does the past exist concretely in space…where the past is still happening.” O’Brien

The opinion article “Black Lives Matter: A Movement Built on Lies” by John Perazzo represents the Black Lives Matter movement (which is referred to as BLM within this essay) and the people associated with it in an intensely negative light. Through the use of several rhetorical devices, Perazzo dramatically conveys his deep resentment for the group. By doing this, he aims to persuade the audience against Black Lives Matter and to share his antagonistic views. After all, the portrayal of the movement

On August 8th, 1974 at exactly 9:01 pm, Richard Nixon--former President-- gave a speech that would affect both United States history and the american people. Richard Nixon’s argument and claim lay within the textual aspects, in other words, his tone, attitude, and the strategic ways of presenting to his audience. In this historical speech, Richard Nixon broadcasted his character, past decisions, and future advice to the people of the United States in order to justify his resignation from the presidential

1998). The method for identifying and evaluating ad hominem arguments worked out in Ad Hominem Arguments (Walton 1998) uses a set of argumentation schemes (forms of argument) for each distinctive subtype of ad hominem argument recognized, as well as a set of appropriate critical questions that match each scheme. The following is the argumentation scheme for the direct, or so-called abusive, form of the ad hominem argument-called the ethotic type of ad hominem argument by Brinton (1985) and myself (Walton

The Toulmin method is an effective tool that helps determine the efficacy of an argument by using this method the author’s argumentative strategies are evaluated to determine their strength. This essay will use the Toulmin method in order to assess the strength of James E. McWilliams’ argument. The Toulmin method will break down the author’s argument into components—the claim, evidence, warrant, qualifiers, and rebuttal. Through using the Toulmin method, Williams’ argument and the components of his

Identify three techniques (for each example) that you feel most effectively persuade the audience and justify why they do so. In both the editorial from The Age, titled ‘Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull 's cowardly stance on Donald Trump shames us all’, and the letter to the editor in The Sydney Morning Herald written by David Whitcombe of Maroubra, New South Wales, the use of rhetorical questions was abundant, however, their use in each text had a different effect on the audience. The editorial

The film Thank You For Smoking focuses on Nick Naylor, spokesman for the Academy of Tobacco Studies. A man who twistes people’s words to get his point out, sending the message of the use of cigarettes. He comes up with strategies with his friends, Polly Bailey, spokesman or alcohol and Bobby Jay Bliss, spokesman for firearms on how to make dangerous products be more appealing to the American public. Naylor visits Jeff Megall, Hollywood agent to make a movie with a celebrity smoking. They think it

English 201 In Odysseus I think that Homer is using the siren scene to symbolize temptation in many ways. There are many different ways we are faced with temptation in our everyday life to do certain things. Its representing how temptation can control us no matter how much we know that it is wrong to give in. Temptation can come in many different ways, like in Odysseus the temptation came to them from the sirens. They appeared to him as seductive creatures with their beautiful songs attempting

Per St. Thomas Aquinas’ criteria for a “just war”, the Allies declaration of war against the Axis Powers, during World War II, is considered just because it fought against the actions of one tyrant’s decisions, sought to avenge the wrongful doings of the Axis powers, and held the rightful intentions of bringing about good. The primary Allied Powers of World War II consisted of the United States, Britain, China and the Soviet Union, while the Axis powers consisted primarily of Germany, Italy, and

The just war theory provides us two basic conditions that make it permissible to start or partake in a war justly. The first condition is the “jus ad bellum,” which clarifies when it's just for a state to go to war. The second condition is the “jus in bello” which also elaborates on how soldiers can fight a war justly. The moral responsibilities and constraints of soldiers are stated under these two conditions. Constraints such as the avoidance for a soldier to intentionally harm a civilian is one

The just war theory is a Western Civilizational term that offers a set of guidelines that should be applied in war. The purpose of this theory is to provide a universal set of ethics to ensure that wars are not only justifiable, but that limits are established in order to preserve some humanity. There are numerous wars that could be analyzed through this theory, however, in this essay the United States involvement in World War II will be the focus due to the conflict it created globally. World War

Injustice in WWII John F. Kennedy once said, “Mankind must put an end to war, or war will put an end to mankind.” When we start to think about the logistics of war, the question is: is any war justifiable? Although many things that happened in World War 2 were necessary to the development of our world; many things during the war were unjustifiable, hence I chose uneven scales of justice to represent the war. Since the first modern-day legal system began in Rome, the scales of justice have been

nations have access to this. The mass media feeds into this demand for new, thriving aspects in culture. Much of the population makes choices based on what they’re being fed by the media. From billboards to news stations, to commercials and annoying ads, these are all correlated to controlled media. The mass media is dictating what everyone sees, including you and me. Subliminal messages are everywhere. Subliminal messages are messages or signals are frequencies so low that they are created to pass

traditional ethics are not applied but there should be ethical guidelines for war. Just War theory judges war twice, first for the reason that the states are fighting for and secondly, the practises in which they adopt in the actual fighting. Jus Ad Bellum or justice of war provides the guidelines

Just War/ Military Ethics War can be just using Military Ethics. Even though in war people will die, war can be just using Military Ethics. Consequentialism suggests the cost, benefits and outcome outweighs the consequences to arrive at end state. War cannot be helped in certain situations no matter who starts the fight. In deontology the principles, means and rules are important to making a judgements that are ethical. Military Ethics can be defined as Utilitarianism, the Rules of Engagement

5. Use the six criteria of the Just War Doctrine (jus ad bellum) to make a morally acceptable argument for the world powers to use military force to end the conflict in Syria. The conflict in Syria is entirely complex to understand; however, it is obvious how human rights of the civilians had been terribly violated for the conflict; additionally, the powers in Syria are just fighting for their own welfares without considering in the security of civilians