Assignment: Argument Outline

All philosophical texts and, arguably, all texts contain the components constitutive an argument.  Those structural components are two:

1. A conclusion: the ultimate claim that a text promotes (although we might allow multiple conclusions, these eventually lead to yet another conclusion). By text I mean not only the entire complete work, but also any individual selection of a work.  When you are outlining selections from a longer text the conclusion may not be explicit, but there will always be a basic claim (in that selection), which in turn will be a premise for a larger argument of which your selection is only a part.

2. Premises: these are shorter, more modest claims or propositions, which are effectively added to other premises in order to result in the conclusion. Premises are implicit and explicit. Explicit premises are articulated within the text, whereas implicit premises are not articulated but can be inferred from the conclusion and explicit premises. Each argument can have a considerable number of premises.

While there is usually only one conclusion, there can be a long series of premises leading to that conclusion.

The conclusion can be found in any number of places in a philosophical text. In contemporary philosophy the conclusion is usually articulated in the beginning of the writing, and the rest of the work is devoted to demonstrating why this conclusion follows. In late modern philosophy, the conclusion can be found sometimes at the beginning, sometimes at the end, and sometimes in media res. Sometimes the author does not articulate the conclusion at all.

When reading philosophical works, you always want to keep a conclusion in mind. To understand what you are reading, you should always relate each sentence, each paragraph, each page you read back to the conclusion. If the conclusion is not articulated until the end of the work, then the conclusion guiding your reading will be tentative (and will be corrected or confirmed by that reading). Regardless of whether you have found the conclusion or not, you must read with some notion of what the conclusion is or will be. Otherwise you are reading a philosophical work as you would a novel, waiting for something novel to occur …

How to write it:

To write an argument outline, you will need to collect at least two, and maybe three, elements. First, your outline should begin with the conclusion.  Second, (optional, but recommended), you may want to find a brief passage that states your conclusion in the author’s language. Third, you should have a list of premises (preferably no more than one sentence each).  Each premise should have a parenthetical page citation at the end of that sentence (inside the period). For clarity’s sake, you should number the premises and mark which are explicit and which are not. Implicit premises do not require citations.

Textual source:

For the outlines you will be assigned a short textual passage. You should try to draw your conclusion and premises from that passage and not from outside of that passage, as much as that is possible.

Publication:                                                                                              

Each argument outline must be published on the course blog on the date due (listed on the schedule), which can be found under the “Assignments” tab in Blackboard.  You are free to correct it either through comments on the original posting or through strikethrough text markings to the original posting.  Grading will be based on the original posting, but your colleagues depend on any necessary clarifications to the original posting, at your earliest convenience.

Each student is responsible for completing two outlines during the semester, but there will be opportunities for students to do a third, if they wish (in order to raise a grade).