argument outlines fall 2007

Theodore Gracyk
Philosophy 110: Practical Reasoning

LECTURE NOTES
Fall 2007

ANALYSIS OF TWO ESSAYS IN "INTERRACIAL AMERICA"

ARGUMENT GIVEN BY THE GROUP “Rethinking Schools” (page 85)

Background: Many schoolchildren in the United States come from homes in which English is not their primary language. (In California, our largest state, over half of all elementary school children come from homes where English is not the primary language.) However, schools in the United States develop English proficiency for all children. In many schools, children can succeed only if they learn English.

PREMISE: Getting rid of bilingual education denies many children the use of her or his own language in school.
PREMISE: The United Nations Convention on the Rights of a Child has declared that no child should be denied the basic human right to use her or his own language.
HIDDEN PREMISE: We should follow the United Nations Convention on the Rights of a Child.
CONCLUSION: We should support bilingual education.

Ward Connerly’s arguments

#1 (page 21)

PREMISE: Government racial classifications always sanction racial discrimination.
HIDDEN PREMISE: We shouldn’t sanction racial discrimination.
CONCLUSION: Our government should not engage in racial classification.

#2 (pages 21-22)

PREMISE: Racial classification deprives people of freedom in the same way that slavery did.
HIDDEN PREMISE: Slavery is wrong for doing this.
CONCLUSION: Our government should not engage in racial classification.

#3 (pages 22-23)

PREMISE: In the Anglo-American tradition, democracy is present, involving equal justice before the law.
HIDDEN PREMISE: The U.S. has a democracy due to this Anglo-American tradition.
PREMISE: Government racial classification deprives some people of equal justice before the law.
CONCLUSION: The U.S. government should not engage in racial classification.

#4 (page 23)

PREMISE: Racial classification uses stereotypes to assign power to people of one group without their individually deserving its benefits and to withhold power from people in another group without their individually deserving it.
HIDDEN PREMISE: People should only be granted or deprived of power to the degree that they individually deserve it.
CONCLUSION: Our government should not engage in racial classification.

#5 (page 24)

PREMISE: Scientists no longer believe that race has a biological basis: all "racial" distinctions are really social or cultural.
HIDDEN PREMISE: The government should not classify people according to unreal distinctions.
CONCLUSION: Our government should not engage in racial classification.

#6 (page 25)

PREMISE: If each person giving themselves a racial classification understands racial choices differently, then the information gathered will be meaningless.
HIDDEN PREMISE: Our government should not collect meaningless data.
CONCLUSION: Our government should not engage in racial classification.