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confusedhunk
- Newbie | Next Rank: 10 Posts
- Posts: 4
- Joined: Sat Aug 14, 2010 7:45 pm
"Without new ideas, any society will stagnate. New ideas can only be introduced in a society that permits freedom of expression. Therefore, if a society is to thrive, all limits on freedom of expression should be eliminated."
Discuss how well-reasoned you find this argument. In your discussion, be sure to analyze the line of reasoning and the use of evidence in the argument. For example, you may need to consider what questionable assumptions underlie the thinking and what alternative explanations or counterexamples might weaken the conclusion. You can also discuss what sort of evidence would strengthen or refute the argument, what changes in the argument would make it more logically sound, and what, if anything, would help you better evaluate its conclusion.
"With great power comes great responsibilty". Although freedom of expression is necessary for a communicating one's ideas, unrestricted freedom can have its ill effects and may lead to uncivilized behaviour on part of the people. Hence,it is important to have some restrictions on the way in which ideas can be expressed.
In the preceding statement the author states that freedom of expression should be unrestricted for ideas to be discussed and that helps the society to grow. Although author's claim may have merit, author's poorly reasoned argument is based on several questionable premises and assumptions, and solely on the basis of evidence provided in the argument, author's conclusion can not be accepted as valid. Mentioned below are the issues with the argument.
Firstly, the author states that new ideas can only be introduced in a society where there is freedom of expression. However, the author fails to provide any explaination for this. Societies that are restricted in freedom of expression are still capable of developing. Many communist countries like erstwhile Soviet Union were considered restricted in terms of the fressom of expression that the people. There were even restrictions on what the media can report. But even then the society of the Soviet Union was growing at a good pace. Soviet Union was the second only to United States in fields such as olympic sports, space technology etc. This clearly shows that even with restrictions in freedom of expression a society can grow and thus undermines the argument that ideas can only be introduced in a sociiety permiting freedom of expression.
Secondly, the argument doesn't provide any explaination on what is considered a limit on freedom of expression. For person living in India any Islamic country may be seem to be a nation which has curbs on freedom of expression as the ladies are required to be wear clothes like " Burkha" which cover their entire body when they are in public. But for a person living in such countries like UAE it is very natural and he may feel that India is a country which is too liberal. Therefore, the restictions or lack of it are based on the culture of the the society.
While, there are key issues with argument's premises and assumptions, it is not to say that it is wihout a base. In a society like Germany during Hitler's period was under a dictatorship and had no freedom of expression whatsover, this led to uncivilized behaviour and inhumane conditions for people to live in. Freedom of expression becomes very critical in such situations.
In sum, author's illogical argument is based on unsupported premises and unsubstantiated assumptions which render his conclusion as invalid. For the author to influence the thinking of his readers he has to largely restruture his argument, fix the flaws in his logic, provide evidentairy support for his assumptions and , expricate the premises.Without these, he is unlikey to convince many people with his argument.
Discuss how well-reasoned you find this argument. In your discussion, be sure to analyze the line of reasoning and the use of evidence in the argument. For example, you may need to consider what questionable assumptions underlie the thinking and what alternative explanations or counterexamples might weaken the conclusion. You can also discuss what sort of evidence would strengthen or refute the argument, what changes in the argument would make it more logically sound, and what, if anything, would help you better evaluate its conclusion.
"With great power comes great responsibilty". Although freedom of expression is necessary for a communicating one's ideas, unrestricted freedom can have its ill effects and may lead to uncivilized behaviour on part of the people. Hence,it is important to have some restrictions on the way in which ideas can be expressed.
In the preceding statement the author states that freedom of expression should be unrestricted for ideas to be discussed and that helps the society to grow. Although author's claim may have merit, author's poorly reasoned argument is based on several questionable premises and assumptions, and solely on the basis of evidence provided in the argument, author's conclusion can not be accepted as valid. Mentioned below are the issues with the argument.
Firstly, the author states that new ideas can only be introduced in a society where there is freedom of expression. However, the author fails to provide any explaination for this. Societies that are restricted in freedom of expression are still capable of developing. Many communist countries like erstwhile Soviet Union were considered restricted in terms of the fressom of expression that the people. There were even restrictions on what the media can report. But even then the society of the Soviet Union was growing at a good pace. Soviet Union was the second only to United States in fields such as olympic sports, space technology etc. This clearly shows that even with restrictions in freedom of expression a society can grow and thus undermines the argument that ideas can only be introduced in a sociiety permiting freedom of expression.
Secondly, the argument doesn't provide any explaination on what is considered a limit on freedom of expression. For person living in India any Islamic country may be seem to be a nation which has curbs on freedom of expression as the ladies are required to be wear clothes like " Burkha" which cover their entire body when they are in public. But for a person living in such countries like UAE it is very natural and he may feel that India is a country which is too liberal. Therefore, the restictions or lack of it are based on the culture of the the society.
While, there are key issues with argument's premises and assumptions, it is not to say that it is wihout a base. In a society like Germany during Hitler's period was under a dictatorship and had no freedom of expression whatsover, this led to uncivilized behaviour and inhumane conditions for people to live in. Freedom of expression becomes very critical in such situations.
In sum, author's illogical argument is based on unsupported premises and unsubstantiated assumptions which render his conclusion as invalid. For the author to influence the thinking of his readers he has to largely restruture his argument, fix the flaws in his logic, provide evidentairy support for his assumptions and , expricate the premises.Without these, he is unlikey to convince many people with his argument.
