portfolio example: analogy

At the top, it labels the category of argument.

It documents the source. (Provide the same sort of documentation that would be used for a citation in a college research paper.)

It identifies the issue in the form of a question.

It reconstructs the argument in standard form, then evaluates its soundness. (For the fallacies, we skip the standard form reconstruction but explain how the fallacy occurs in the example.) It explicitly states whether the argument is sound or unsound.

Argument by Analogy

Source: The Fargo Forum, 09/30/2001, page A6

Issue: Will the United States stop the growth of terrorism?

Standard Form Reconstruction:

1. Freezing temperatures stop growth.
2. Freezing temperatures are like the United States. Both are
powerful forces.
(likely) The United States will stop the growth of terrorism.

Evaluation:
The argument commits the fallacy of faulty analogy. There are few similarities and there are relevant differences between governments and weather systems. For one thing, we can predict the seasons of the weather better than we can predict long term government policies. The fact that freezing temperatures come each year is beyond human control. But government action is under our control. While freezing temperatures come every fall, perhaps the American people will not have the patience to back a long war on terrorism and so the U.S. will not really stop the growth of terrorism.

This argument is unsound.