Current Issues and Enduring Questions: A Guide to Critical Thinking and Argument, with Readings ...

868 Pages·2013·15.65 MB·English

TENTH EDITION
CURRENT ISSUES and
ENDURING QUESTIONS
A Guide to Critical Thinking
and Argument, with Readings
SYLVAN BARNET
Professor of English, Tufts University
HUGO BEDAU
Professor of Philosophy, Tufts University
Bedford/St. Martin’s BOSTON ◆ NEW YORK
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Acknowledgments
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LATEST A HEAD OR SA LAST NAME / ST III
Preface
This book is a text — a book about reading other people’s arguments and
writing your own arguments — and it is also an anthology — a collection
of more than a hundred selections, ranging from Plato to the present,
with a strong emphasis on contemporary arguments and, in this edition,
new modes of argument, from documentary fi lm trailers to political
speeches to infographics. Before we describe these selections further,
we’d like to describe our chief assumptions about the aims of a course
that might use Current Issues and Enduring Questions: A Guide to Critical
Thinking and Argument, with Readings.
Probably most students and instructors would agree that, as critical
readers, students should be able to
(cid:129) Summarize accurately an argument they have read;
(cid:129) Locate the thesis (the claim) of an argument;
(cid:129) Locate the assumptions, stated and unstated, of an argument;
(cid:129) Analyze and evaluate the strength of the evidence and the sound-
ness of the reasoning offered in support of the thesis; and
(cid:129) Analyze, evaluate, and account for discrepancies among various
readings on a topic (for example, explain why certain facts are
used, why probable consequences of a proposed action are exam-
ined or are ignored, or why two sources might interpret the same
facts differently).
Probably, too, students and instructors would agree that, as thoughtful
writers, students should be able to
(cid:129) Imagine an audience and write effectively for it (for instance, by
using the appropriate tone and providing the appropriate amount
of detail);
iii
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iv PREFACE
(cid:129) Present information in an orderly and coherent way;
(cid:129) Be aware of their own assumptions;
(cid:129) Locate sources and incorporate them into their own writing, not
simply by quoting extensively or by paraphrasing but also by hav-
ing digested material so that they can present it in their own words;
(cid:129) Properly document all borrowings — not merely quotations and
paraphrases but also borrowed ideas; and
(cid:129) Do all these things in the course of developing a thoughtful argu-
ment of their own.
In the fi rst edition of this book we quoted Edmund Burke and John
Stuart Mill. Burke said,
He that wrestles with us strengthens our nerves, and sharpens our skill.
Our antagonist is our helper.
Mill said,
He who knows only his own side of the cause knows little.
These two quotations continue to refl ect the view of argument that
underlies this text: In writing an essay one is engaging in a serious effort
to know what one’s own ideas are and, having found them, to contrib-
ute to a multisided conversation. One is not setting out to trounce an
opponent, and that is partly why such expressions as “marshaling evi-
dence,” “attacking an opponent,” and “defending a thesis” are mislead-
ing. True, on television talk shows we see right-wingers and left-wingers
who have made up their minds and who are concerned only with push-
ing their own views and brushing aside all others. But in an academic
community, and indeed in our daily lives, we learn by listening to others
and also by listening to ourselves.
We draft a response to something we have read, and in the very act
of drafting we may fi nd — if we think critically about the words we are
putting down on paper — we are changing (perhaps slightly, perhaps
radically) our own position. In short, one reason that we write is so that
we can improve our ideas. And even if we do not drastically change our
views, we and our readers at least come to a better understanding of
why we hold the views we do.
FEATURES
The Text
Parts One and Two Critical Thinking and Reading (Chapters 1–4) and
Critical Writing (Chapters 5–7), together offer a short course in meth-
ods of thinking about and writing arguments. By “thinking” we mean
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PREFACE v
serious analytic thought, including analysis of one’s own assumptions
(Chapter 1); by “writing” we mean the use of effective, respectable tech-
niques, not gimmicks (such as the notorious note a politician scribbled
in the margin of the text of his speech: “Argument weak; shout here”).
For a delightfully wry account of the use of gimmicks, we recommend
that you consult “The Art of Controversy” in The Will to Live by the
nineteenth-century German philosopher Arthur Schopenhauer. Scho-
penhauer reminds readers that a Greek or Latin quotation (however
irrelevant) can be impressive to the uninformed and that one can knock
down almost any proposition by loftily saying, “That’s all very well in
theory, but it won’t do in practice.”
We offer lots of advice about how to set forth an argument, but we
do not offer instruction in one-upmanship. Rather, we discuss respon-
sible ways of arguing persuasively. We know, however, that before one
can write a persuasive argument, one must clarify one’s own ideas — a
process that includes arguing with oneself — to fi nd out what one really
thinks about a problem. Therefore, we devote Chapter 1 to critical think-
ing, Chapters 2, 3, and 4 to critical reading (Chapter 4 is about reading
images), and Chapters 5, 6, and 7 to critical writing.
Parts One and Two together contain thirty-four readings (six are stu-
dent papers) for analysis and discussion. Some of these essays originated
as op-ed newspaper pieces, and we reprint some of the letters to the edi-
tor that they generated, so students can easily see several sides to a given
issue. In this way students can, in their own responses, join the conver-
sation, so to speak. (We have found, by the way, that using the format of
a letter helps students to frame their ideas, and therefore in later chap-
ters we occasionally suggest writing assignments in the form of a letter to
the editor. In an e-Pages section on ethical arguments, we reprint three
letters written by Randy Cohen of the New York Times Magazine, and we
invite students to write their own responses.)
All of the essays in the book are accompanied by a list of Topics for
Critical Thinking and Writing.1 This is not surprising, given the empha-
sis we place on asking questions in order to come up with ideas for
writing. Among the chief questions that writers should ask, we suggest,
are “What is X ?” and “What is the value of X ?” (pp. 232–33). By asking
such questions — for instance (to look only at these two types of ques-
tions), “Is the fetus a person?” or “Is Arthur Miller a better playwright
than Tennessee Williams?” — a writer probably will fi nd ideas coming, at
least after a few moments of head scratching. The device of developing
an argument by identifying issues is, of course, nothing new. Indeed, it
goes back to an ancient method of argument used by classical rhetori-
cians, who identifi ed a stasis (an issue) and then asked questions about
1With a few exceptions, the paragraphs in the essays are, for ease of reference, numbered
in increments of fi ve (5, 10, 15, and so on). The exceptions involve essays in which para-
graphs are uncommonly long; in such cases, every paragraph is numbered.
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vi PREFACE
it: Did X do such and such? If so, was the action bad? If bad, how bad?
(Finding an issue or stasis — a position where one stands — by asking
questions is discussed in Chapter 6.)
In keeping with our emphasis on writing as well as reading, we raise
issues not only of what can roughly be called the “content” of the essays but
also of what can (equally roughly) be called the “style” — that is, the ways
in which the arguments are set forth. Content and style, of course, can-
not fi nally be kept apart. As Cardinal Newman said, “Thought and meaning
are inseparable from each other. . . . Style is thinking out into language.” In our
Topics for Critical Thinking and Writing we sometimes ask the student
(cid:129) To evaluate the effectiveness of an essay’s opening paragraph,
(cid:129) To explain a shift in tone from one paragraph to the next, or
(cid:129) To characterize the persona of the author as revealed in the whole
essay.
In short, the book is not designed as an introduction to some power-
ful ideas (though in fact it is that, too); it is designed as an aid to writing
thoughtful, effective arguments on important political, social, scientifi c,
ethical, legal, and religious issues.
The essays reprinted in this book also illustrate different styles of
argument that arise, at least in part, from the different disciplinary back-
grounds of the various authors. Essays by journalists, lawyers, judges,
social scientists, policy analysts, philosophers, critics, activists, and other
writers — including fi rst-year undergraduates — will be found in these
pages. The authors develop and present their views in arguments that
have distinctive features refl ecting their special training and concerns.
The differences in argumentative styles found in these essays foreshadow
the differences students will encounter in the readings assigned in many
of their other courses.
Parts One and Two, then, offer a preliminary (but we hope substan-
tial) discussion of such topics as
(cid:129) Identifying assumptions;
(cid:129) Getting ideas by means of invention strategies;
(cid:129) Finding, evaluating, and citing printed and electronic sources;
(cid:129) Interpreting visual sources;
(cid:129) Evaluating kinds of evidence; and
(cid:129) Organizing material
as well as an introduction to some ways of thinking.
Part Three Further Views on Argument consists of Chapters 8 through 13.
(cid:129) Chapter 8, A Philosopher’s View: The Toulmin Model, is a summary
of the philosopher Stephen Toulmin’s method for analyzing
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PREFACE vii
arguments. This summary will assist those who wish to apply
Toulmin’s methods to the readings in our book.
(cid:129) Chapter 9, A Logician’s View: Deduction, Induction, Fallacies,
offers a more rigorous analysis of these topics than is usually found
in composition courses and reexamines from a logician’s point of
view material already treated briefl y in Chapter 3.
(cid:129) Chapter 10, A Psychologist’s View: Rogerian Argument, with an
essay by psychotherapist Carl R. Rogers and an essay by a student,
complements the discussion of audience, organization, and tone in
Chapter 6.
(cid:129) Chapter 11, A Rhetorician’s View: Rhetorical Analysis of Nontra-
ditional Texts, offers students strategies for analyzing and writing
about artifacts of popular culture, from public service announce-
ments to reality television.
(cid:129) Chapter 12, A Literary Critic’s View: Arguing about Literature,
should help students to see the things literary critics argue about
and how they argue. Students can apply what they learn not only
to the literary readings that appear in the chapter (poems by Robert
Frost and Andrew Marvell and a story by Kate Chopin) but also to
the readings that appear in Part Six, Enduring Questions: Essays, a
Story, Poems, and a Play. Finally, Part Three concludes with
(cid:129) Chapter 13, A Debater’s View: Individual Oral Presentations and
Debate, which introduces students to standard presentation strate-
gies and debate format.
(cid:129) In e-Pages, A Moralist’s View: Ways of Thinking Ethically, consists
of a discussion of amoral, immoral, and moral reasoning; A Check-
list for Moral Reasoning; two challenging essays; and three short
responses to highly specifi c moral questions.
(cid:129) Also in e-Pages, A Lawyer’s View: Steps toward Civic Literacy,
introduces students to some basic legal concepts, such as the distinc-
tion between civil and criminal cases, and then gives majority and
minority opinions in two cases: searching students for drugs and
establishing the right to an abortion. We accompany these judicial
opinions with questions that invite the student to participate in
these exercises in democracy.
The Anthology
Part Four Current Issues: Occasions for Debate (Chapters 14–18)
begins with some comments on binary, or pro-con, thinking. It then
gives a Checklist for Analyzing a Debate and reprints five pairs of
arguments — on student loan debt (should it be forgiven?), using inte-
grated instead of handheld devices while driving (is it safer?), the local
food movement (is it a better way to eat?), the death penalty, and
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viii PREFACE
genetic modifi cation of human beings. Here, as elsewhere in the book,
many of the selections (drawn from popular journals and newspapers)
are very short — scarcely longer than the 500-word essays that students
are often asked to write. Thus, students can easily study the methods the
writers use, as well as the issues themselves.
Part Five Current Issues: Casebooks (Chapters 19–25) presents seven
chapters on issues discussed by several writers. For example, the fi rst
casebook concerns the nature and purpose of a college education: Is col-
lege a place where students learn citizenship, a place for vocational train-
ing, or some combination of these?
Part Six Enduring Questions: Essays, a Story, Poems, and a Play (Chap-
ters 26–28) extends the arguments to three topics: Chapter 26, What
Is the Ideal Society? (the nine voices here range from Thomas More,
Thomas Jefferson, and Martin Luther King Jr. to literary fi gures W. H.
Auden, Langston Hughes, and Ursula K. Le Guin); Chapter 27, How
Free Is the Will of the Individual within Society? (among the authors
are Plato, Susan Glaspell, and George Orwell); and C hapter 28, What Is
Happiness? (among the nine selections in this chapter are writings by
Epictetus, C. S. Lewis, and the Dalai Lama).
WHAT’S NEW IN THE TENTH EDITION
We have made some signifi cant changes in the tenth edition that we
believe enrich the book and make the content more accessible.
Fresh and timely new readings. Thirty-eight of the essays (about
one-third of the total) are new, as are a dozen topics such as student loan
debt, government regulation of large sodas, social media dependency,
women in combat, the regulation of fi rearms, and hydraulic fracturing.
(In fact, the number of new readings is more than thirty-eight because
some of these new essays were editorials and op-ed pieces that generated
letters, some of which we have reprinted.)
New debates and casebook topics. New debates include Student
Loans: Should Some Indebtedness Be Forgiven?, Are Integrated Devices
Safer Than Using Handheld Devices While Driving?, The Local Food
Movement: Is It a Better Way to Eat?, and The Death Penalty: Is It Ever
Justifi ed? New casebooks include Junk Food: Should the Government
Regulate Our Intake?, Hydraulic Fracturing: Is Fracking Worth the Envi-
ronmental Cost?, and Facebook: How Has Social Networking Changed
How We Relate to Others?
A new chapter on rhetorical analysis of popular culture
(Chapter 11) gives students a framework for making arguments about
popular culture, from public service announcements to Here Comes Honey
Boo Boo.
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