1. Moral ReasoningUsing arguments to validate the strength of moral views

2. Opinions, Beliefs, and PropositionsBeliefs are propositional they are claims that are eithertrue or falseOpinions are beliefs and therefore are also propositional I believe It is immoral to eat other animals= In my opinion it is immoral to eat other animals= Im claiming that it is immoral to eat other animals 3. P1. The decision of whether to live or dieprimarily involves the patients valuesArguments about death and the meaning of life.P2. Doctors are trained to respond to physicalsuffering, not questions of existentialvalue.An argument consists of two C. Doctors are therefore lack the expertise toparts: one part (the premise or make such decisions (or validate thepremises) of which is intendeddecisions of their patients)to provide a reason foraccepting the other part (the P1. Abortion is the intentional killing ofconclusion) innocent persons.P2. Intentional killing of innocentpersons violates their right to lifeC1. Abortion violates the right to life ofA good argument is one in innocent persons.which the premises areP4. Violating the right to life is morally(1) true; and wrong & should be prohibited.(2) relevant to the conclusionC2. Abortion is morally wrong & shouldbe prohibited 4. Is this an argument? People who are stupid here because I want todeserve any Why am I here? Im enough to smoke, dont learn to healthbetter. think care services. Let them die! Ive been going in God or condemn yourself to a life of Either believe to McDonalds for Big Macs for 30 years. Im meaninglessness! happy with my purchase almost every time. Therefore, I will probably be happy with my next McDonalds purchase. Our immigration policy is the result of a long history of George Washington never is not lie and neither should youprejudice. Therefore, it told a just senseless, but downright racist! We need a president that understands the economy, and so, we should electcommercials extensive business experienceI never watch Romney. His and neither should you. makes him want to be to be presidentto believe that you You dont well-suited brainwashed at a time when nothing matters more than thereally dont. And according need something, which you economy. His success leadingNew York Times, thats into success leading our to the a business will translate exactly what commercials nation.do. try to 5. Deductive & Inductive arguments Deductive Proofs Aims to prove a conclusion P1. Voluntary Active Euthanasia Successful if the argument isreduces the pain and sufferingsoundin the world Sound = the premises aretrue and the argument is P2. Whatever reduces pain andvalidsuffering in the world ought to An argument is valid if its be permitted.impossible for its premises tobe true and its conclusion toC. Voluntary Active Euthanasiabe false.ought to be permitted 6. Deductive & Inductive arguments Inductive SupportP1. We surveyed 10000Californians about their views on Supports, rather than proves,gay marriage.a conclusion The degree of support itP2. 64% of those surveyed were offers depends on how likelyin support of legalizing gaymarriage, 25% were against gay the premises make themarriage, and 11% were conclusionundecided. An arguments strengthP3. State ballot measures requiredepends on how mucha majority vote to passsupport it offers for the conclusion. (more support =C. A ballot measure legalizing gay stronger argument)marriage will probably pass now 7. What are they arguing about? Diana: Abortion is immoral because it ismedically and psychologically harmful to themother. Maria: I disagree. Its not having anabortion when you need one that ismedically and psychologically harmful to themother. 8. What are they arguing about? Victor: I cant believe they wont let us fish here anymore! Our family has been fishing here for generations. That gives us a right to our livelihood! Jacob: If the state allows everyone to keep fishing here at least for now the fish population will be devastated and the whole ecosystem around them will be affected. We have a moral obligation to protect that ecosystem. 9. What are they arguing about? Sergei: If we make abortion illegal, more children will beborn whose parents are not able to adequately provide forthem. Wendy: Even if a childs life is not a particularly good one,its better than no life at all! 10. What are they arguing about? Jessica: Abortion is wrong because it is thekilling of an innocent person. Hector: It isnt. A fetus is not a person!Its just a clump of cells. We have no goodreason to consider it a person. 11. What are they arguing about? Charlie: Restricting marriage to heterosexuals is unjustdiscrimination. Briana: Marriage should only be allowed between oneman and one woman 12. Marketing the voice of a corporation 13. ARE ANY OF THESE MORALLY WRONG?GO AHEAD AND CONVINCE ME WITH A GOOD ARGUMENT! 14. Creating effective arguments before you start Step 1: Make sure you understand the question/issue that the argument should address. Step 2: Determine a preliminary answer to that question/issue. This will be your conclusion. Step 3: Write out what you see as the reasons/evidence, first for, then against your conclusion 15. Creating effective arguments standard formStep 1: State your conclusion what are youtrying to show?Step 2: List your premises/evidence one by one(P1, P2, P3, etc.) above the conclusionStep 3: Examine your premises to see if they aresufficient to support the conclusion.Look for holes in your argument: missingpremises, unwarranted assumptions, biasedlanguage, fallacious reasoning, etc.Step 4: Make changes where helpful and returnto step 3 until your evidence provides strongsupport for your conclusion