Mary: Sororities are fun. They give you a place to live.
Alex: So?
Mary: You should join one.
Alex: Why would that make me want that?
Analysis: This isn’t a strong argument, so to make it a stronger argument there should be a premise that relates to Alex. A statement that could make it stronger to add would be for Mary to say, “ You want to have fun and you need a place to live”. Also, adding the cost is cheap can help make the argument plausible.
There are plenty of places to live such as housing, apartments, and dorms. Not all apartments and housing are cheap, so by stating that living in a sorority becomes a valid option. Personalizing cheap and fun living is a solid win in an argument for a majority of the human population.
Good job repairing the argument. I see how you started off with a weak argument as to why someone should live in a sorority house and then fixed it with your reasons. The reason of rent being cheaper is very appealing, especially if it’s toward college kids. You could also add in the prices of each establishment and compare it to the price of living in the sorority house as well. The apartments on campus are ridiculously overpriced, I believe $900/month, and so if your sorority rent beats that, then you could persuade a lot more people. Also, I liked the argument that living in a sorority house gives you a social life, which would appeal to people who don’t live on campus and want to get involved. Overall, good repairment!
ReplyDeleteI agree that it is not a strong argument and therefore, it should definitely be repaired. I feel that if you added that "Joining a sorority will change your college life because you get to experience new things as well as meeting new people. You even get to live in a sorority house." Living on-campus or in off-campus apartments are definitely a lot more expensive than living in a sorority house, so I liked how you included that into your repaired argument. I also liked the idea that you wrote how people need to have fun, and that can relate to every single person in college. The repaired argument would lead to the conclusion, making this a stronger and valid argument! Good job.
ReplyDeleteYou were able to prove that you know how to repair an argument by going through the process of repairing. I agree that your example is definitely not a strong argument. It almost has no glue to connect the premises to the conclusion. But I think the argument could be stronger if you were able to provide more premises or reasons to Mary’s argument to convince Alex. The statement “You want to have fun and you need a place to live” is kind of implied from Mary’s point of view and doesn’t necessarily need to be stated. It doesn’t really influence Alex’s decision to join a sorority.
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