Ethics and Critical Thinking about Wolves

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Ethics and Critical Thinkingabout Wolves
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-Argument Analysis-

• Basic Argument Form
• P1. Premise (often relies on science)
• P2. Premise (ethical assertion)
• C1. Conclusion
• Warning Not as easy as it looks.

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-Argument Analysis-

• Critiquing Arguments
• Only Two Ways
• Mistake in premise
• 2) Mistake in inference in going from premises
  to conclusion

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-Argument Analysis-

• Mistake in Premise example
• P1. All U.S. presidents live in the White House
• P2. Fred Swanson is the president of the U.S.
• C1. Therefore, Fred Swanson lives in the White
  House
• Note Fred simply doesnt have the foreign
  policy experience to be president

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-Argument Analysis-

• 2) Mistake in Inference example
• P1. All crows are black
• P2. Heckle and Jeckle are crows
• C1. Therefore, Ron Paul will most definitely be
  the next president of the United States (just you
  wait)

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-Argument Analysis-

• Order in which to proceed
• Lay out argument (hint get them to do it)
• Assess inferences
• Assess premises
• Lay out counter-argument using 2) and 3)

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Nature of Wolves Argument

• Wolves kill for fun, they are wasteful, and they
  are just plain evil

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Nature of Wolves Argument

• Basic Form
• P1. Wolves are X
• P2. X should not be tolerated
• C1. Therefore, wolves should not be tolerated

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Nature of Wolves Argument

• Particular Versions
• P1. Wolves are gluttonous / gratuitous killers /
  evil
• P2. Gluttony / gratuitous killing / evil should
  not be tolerated
• C1. Therefore, wolves should not be tolerated

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Economic Hardship Args.

• Livestock - We work hard to provide food to the
  public, food they want and need. The public
  demands cheap food. Our hard-won livelihood would
  be threatened by outside impact such as wolf
  reintroduction (or the presence of wolves at a
  certain population density)
• Hunting My livelihood, my ability to feed my
  family, depends upon hunting. The presence of
  wolves (or a certain population density) will
  negatively impact my livelihood by either
  actually reducing the number of animals that my
  clients hunt, or by making my clients believe
  that hunted animals are being reduced

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• P1. Wolves have an negative impact on various
  economic activities (livestock ranching and
  hunting)
• P2. Livestock ranching and the hunting industry
  are legitimate economic activities
• C1. Therefore, wolves have a negative impact on
  legitimate economic activities.
• P3. We ought to reduce/eliminate/not allow for
  those things which negatively impact legitimate
  economic activities.
• C2. Therefore, we ought to reduce/eliminate/not
  reintroduce wolves.

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Ecosystem Health Arg.

• We all want healthy ecosystems. The presence of
  wolves on a landscape is an indication that we
  are committed to healthy ecosystems and that we
  are accomplishing this end

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• P1. We should desire intact / whole / healthy
  ecosystems.
• P2. A healthy ecosystem is one that possesses its
  full compliment of historic members.
• P3. Wolves are historic members of certain
  ecosystems.
• C1. Therefore, wolves are a necessary part of
  certain healthy ecosystems.
• C2. Therefore, we should desire to have wolves in
  certain ecosystems.

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-Hoped-for Results-

• The basic tools to assess and respond to the
  various arguments,
• 2) The basic tools with which to create and
  assess our own arguments

The End Thanks!