My dance teacher was a professional ballet dancer. She has been involved in the world of ballet for over 50 years. Therefore, I would trust her advice on what type of point shoes I should purchase for my ballet class.
When evaluating this argument, we must first decide whether or not we can reason with the argument presented. By the Principle of Rational Discussion we can assume that the dance teacher knows “about the subject under discussion” as the first and second premises show that she must be an expert on ballet related issues. We must also assume that the argument is intended to reason well and that the person who is presenting the argument isn’t lying about the facts presented. If we can do that, then we can repair the argument by either adding on or deleting plausible premises to make the argument stronger. After further evaluating this argument, we can find that we can repair the argument to make it stronger. We make an argument stronger and more plausible for the readers by either adding or deleting a premise or conclusion, but we only do this when we believe that it will make the argument better. “We only repair when it is needed.” In this case, we could add the premise, “Anyone who has had 50 years of ballet experience could give you expert advice on all questions concerning ballet.” This is a premise that is “plausible and would seem plausible” to the person reading the argument and would therefore make the argument stronger. Overall, this argument has become stronger with the added on premise as it gives the reader a valid reason to trust that my dance teacher would give good advice on ballet related issues such as what type of point shoe to purchase.
Hi! Your example is very good I liked how you explained it was very easy to follow. I had at first had a hard time understanding what repairing an argument meant but your example has made it clear. The idea that adding a few extra words can help improve an argument is very amazing. That most of the arguments can me made stronger by adding a link between the premises and the conclusion. The link you used is very wise since a person can be a dancer for 50 years but bot good at it just not a good teacher that would make the whole argument weak.
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