34-160 (02): Reasoning Skills (Guetter)
Essay #2
1. Begin by choosing any ONE of the following as the centrepiece for your ‘Fact-and-Arguments’-style essay:
B1. an argument involving a ‘straw man’ fallacy and ‘equivocation’; or
B2. a cogent (or sound) argument involving conversion and contradiction; or
B3. a cogent (or sound) argument involving constructive dilemma and disjunctive syllogism; or
B4. a cogent (or sound) argument involving reduction ad absurdum.
2. Next, apply your understanding of B1, B2, B3, or B4 to any ONE of the following statements in 2.1.B, p. 70
(treating those statements as conclusions rather than premises):
3. Marijuana should be legalized; or
6. Society has an obligation to provide housing for the homeless; or
12. Nuclear deterrence is irrational; or
16. a claim of your own invention.
This yields 16 possibilities: B1 applied to 6, B4 applied to 3, etc.
Notes:
1. In addition to information re: course/section, date, and student name/number, the title-page of your essay must include the Letter-Number combination of the logical topic you intend to write on (from #1 above) followed
by a descriptive title of the essay’s contents (from #2 above; if you select 2.16, you will need to come up with your own title). Use the Letter-Number combination together with a one-word indication of your
subject-matter for the complete filename of the file you upload to turnitin, e.g. ‘A4 and Marijuana’, ‘A1 and Society’, ‘A3 and Nuclear’, and so on.
The Letter-Number combination is necessary to tell your TA/GA which specific logical topic you intended to write your essay on. A complete descriptive title for your work is insufficient for this purpose, and a oneword summary of that title is even less so. In short, no Letter-Number combination = nothing to evaluate.
2. A requirement of first-class work is that it shows something (e.g. equivocation) without naming it anywhere in the essay including its title page (e.g. ‘she equivocated’).
3. The required length is approximately 900 words, double-spaced (about three pages, excluding title-page). A set of loose pages, whether held together with dog-ears or a paper clip or in a plastic cover or anything else will be returned to you until it is stapled together (just one, in the upper left corner); a stapler is about $1 at any Dollar Store. Get your own now.

Solution for B1 and Marijuana, which means the “facts and arguments involving a “straw man” fallacy and “equivocation” regarding marijuana should be legalized”