Essay One Assignment: What Do You Think?

It's time to write your first essay in this course. The directions are found on our site under the Essay One link and are reprinted here below. A sample essay that will demonstrate the argumentative process required for successful completion of this essay will be sent to you in our class notes.

The bonus question for Exam #2 also prepared you for this essay assignment. Those of you who tried the bonus question for Exam #2 and answered correctly found that there was one necessary conclusion that flowed out of the stipulated premises. That is exactly how you are to argue this essay assignment. Stipulate a set of premises that, if factually true, would entail the conclusion by logical necessity. Then do the same for the opposite point of view. That's all there is to it. The sample essay reprinted below has been on the internet for years and has become quite famous with students and professors. Use it as a conceptual model for your own original work.

Guidelines:

Make your essay no more than 1100 words double spaced APA format. It can be shorter in length as long as it satisfies the 5 necessary steps below.

No essay will be graded that has not been spell/grammar checked.

Avoid ALL informal fallacies.

Submit your essay, via email, no later than one week form today at midnight, October 23, 2006

Necessary Steps

Step 1. Choose any debatable topic of your interest and make a truth claim about that topic.

EXAMPLE: "All nations need to adopt a 'sustainable food' public policy before the year 2010."

Step 2. List the major reasons you think (not FEEL) this truth claim is both VALID and SOUND.

Step 3. Apply the following rule for a VALID and SOUND deductive argument to the truth claim and your reasons:

" A deductive argument is VAILD if, and only if, the PREMISES entail the CONCLUSION by LOGICAL NECESSITY. Moreover, a deductive argument is SOUND if and only if it is first of all VALID and then only if the PREMISES are FACTUALLY TRUE to a high degree of EMPIRICAL PROBABILITY."

Step 4. Now take the OPPOSITE view on the topic and list the major reasons for arriving at the opposite view by VALID and SOUND reasoning.

Step 5. At the end of your essay summarize which side of the debatable issue has the better set of reasons for their conclusion and why.

That's all there is to it! Have fun.
Sample (if somewhat funny) Essay:

Is Hell Exothermic or Endothermic? ________________________________________ Dr. Schambaugh, of the University of Oklahoma School of Chemical Engineering, Final Exam question for May of 1997. Dr. Schambaugh is known for asking questions such as, "why do airplanes fly?" on his final exams. His one and only final exam question in May 1997 for his Momentum, Heat and Mass Transfer II class was: "Is hell exothermic or endothermic? Support your answer with proof." Most of the students wrote proofs of their beliefs using Boyle's Law or some variant. One student, however, wrote the following:

"First, We postulate that if souls exist, then they must have some mass. If they do, then a mole of souls can also have a mass. So, at what rate are souls moving into hell and at what rate are souls leaving? I think we can safely assume that once a soul gets to hell, it will not leave.

Therefore, no souls are leaving. As for souls entering hell, let's look at the different religions that exist in the world today. Some of these religions state that if you are not a member of their religion, then you will go to hell. Since there are more than one of these religions and people do not belong to more than one religion, we can project that all people and souls go to hell. With birth and death rates as they are, we can expect the number of souls in hell to increase exponentially. Now, we look at the rate of change in volume in hell. Boyle's Law states that in order for the temperature and pressure in hell to stay the same, the ratio of the mass of souls and volume needs to stay constant. Two options exist:

1. If hell is expanding at a slower rate than the rate at which souls enter hell, then the temperature and pressure in hell will increase until all hell breaks loose.

2. If hell is expanding at a rate faster than the increase of souls in hell, then the temperature and pressure will drop until hell freezes over.

So which is it? If we accept the quote given to me by Theresa Manyan during Freshman year, "that it will be a cold night in hell before I sleep with you" and take into account the fact that I still have NOT succeeded in having sexual relations with her, then Option 2 cannot be true...Thus, hell is exothermic."

The student, Tim Graham, got the only A.