what type of reasoning is used in the following statements and what weaknesses,

Question

what type of reasoning is used in the following statements and what weaknesses, if any, can you find in the reasoning of each: 1. Almost every industrialized nation in the world except for the US has a national curriculum and national tests to help ensure that schools throughout the country are meeting high standards of education. If such a system can work elsewhere, it can work in the US. 2. The US constitution prohibits cruel and unusual punishment. Life sentencing for juvenile offenders is cruel and unusual punishment. Therefore, life sentencing for juvenile offenders is contrary to the US Constitution.

Explanation / Answer

Before answering the question, let’s understand what is Reasoning and the what are the different types of reasoning used in methods of persuasion.

Reasoning: is the process of drawing a conclusion on the basis of evidence.

There are primarily 3 types of reasoning:

Now, let’s look at the following statements to ascertain the type of reasoning used:

Statement 1. Almost every industrialized nation in the world except for the US has a national curriculum and national tests to help ensure that schools throughout the country are meeting high standards of education. If such a system can work elsewhere, it can work in the US.

Explanation 1. The reasoning used in this statement is Inductive Reasoning (Analogical Reasoning.)

Analogical Reasoning is reasoning in which a speaker compares two similar cases and implies what is true for the first case is true for the second case as well.

Weaknesses:

The basic intuition behind analogical reasoning is that when there are substantial parallels across different situations, there are likely to be further parallels.

Reasoning by analogy has been criticized and questioned by logicians, since two sets of circumstances are never the same. While this is true, our goal when using reasoning by analogy in persuasive speaking is not to create certain conclusions but to cite cases and supporting evidence that can influence an audience. For example, let’s say you are trying to persuade a school to adopt an education program by citing the program’s success at other institutions. Since two schools are never the same, the argument can’t be airtight.

An analogical argument may provide very weak support for its conclusion, establishing no more than minimal plausibility; like in the statement. This does not consider the other parallels, infrastructure, rules, regulations, culture etc in the US, to prove the statement.

Statement 2. The US constitution prohibits cruel and unusual punishment. Life sentencing for juvenile offenders is cruel and unusual punishment. Therefore, life sentencing for juvenile offenders is contrary to the US Constitution.

Explanation 2. The reasoning used in this statement is Deductive Reasoning.

Deductive reasoning generally starts with a general case or law and deduces specific instances, like in this statement in regard to the prohibitions in the US Constitution.

Weaknesses:

Deductive reasoning relies heavily upon the initial premises being correct. If one or more premises are incorrect, the argument is invalid and necessarily unsound.

Deductive reasoning assumes that the basic law from which you are arguing is applicable in all cases. This can let you take a rule and apply it perhaps where it was not really meant to be applied. The implication for true deduction is that you must be sure that the basic law or case stated is true.

Hope the aforementioned is free of any ambiguity and is useful to you.

Thanks

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