Chapter 10 Self-Check Questions

. According to the Chapter, when developing an Argument from Analogy what should you do to help you brainstorm some candidate analogies to your target case?

Look for real-world controversies that seem similar to the target case.

Identify the features of the target case that seem salient and morally important, and try to think of uncontroversial cases with those features.

Use the first case that pops into your head and modify it to make it similar to the target case.

Think of moral principles that seem to apply to the target case.

. After brainstorming candidate analogies for your target case, you should decide which one is best. You should look for a candidate analogy that [pick the 2 best options]:

Seems, at first glance, to be similar in the ways that matter to the target case.

Elicits the strongest emotional reaction in your audience.

Has been thoroughly discussed and disputed in public debates.

Elicits a clear and uncontroversial judgment in your target audience.

. After you've identified a plausible moral principle that bears on your target moral issue, the next step is to represent the whole argument in standard form using the General Form of Argument from Analogy. To determine if the argument is good enough to be worth defending, you should:

Nothing -- if your argument fits the General Form of Argument from Principle, then it is a good argument.

Share the conclusion of your argument with other people and ask them if they agree with it.

Identify possible objections to each premise and think about whether they warrant any changes to the argument.

Search to determine if there is a precedent for the argument and if it has been defended in some form before.

. After you've represented your Argument from Analogy in standard form, you can prepare supplementary information to explain each premise of the argument. When explaining premise 1, it is particularly important to include:

A brief, one sentence explanation of the case described, without any detail that would clutter up the explanation.

An explanation of the case that is complete and clear enough that the audience will be able to understand the case and make the judgment you expect them to.

An explanation of why, specifically, the two cases (the analogue case and the target case) are relevantly similar.

An explanation of the history of the case and all the evidence available that it is one that has occurred in the real world before.

. After you've represented your Argument from Analogy in standard form, you can prepare supplementary information to explain each premise of the argument. When explaining premise 2, it is particularly important to include:

A brief, one sentence explanation of the case described, without any detail that would clutter up the explanation.

An explanation of the case that is complete and clear enough that the audience will be able to understand the case and make the judgment you expect them to.

An explanation of why, specifically, the two cases (the analogue case and the target case) are relevantly similar.

An explanation of the history of the case and all the evidence available that it is one that has occurred in the real world before.

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