Find two arguments on the issue of immigration policy

Problem #1 (25 points)

Find two arguments on the issue of immigration policy, one supporting tighter restrictions on undocumented aliens, the other opposing them. The sources, which should be identified in your work, may be blogs or articles from a website, a newspaper, or a magazine. Images from internet memes, social media posts/tweets, and other kinds of sources are also acceptable but please refrain from using content of a pornographic or inappropriate nature. First, reconstruct the arguments as deductive, and then discuss whether they are sound. The simpler the argument, the easier it is to determine whether it is sound. The length should be approximately 700 words.

Problem #2 (25 points)

Find three examples of superstitious beliefs, or urban legends that are commonly transmitted via email or social media. For example, “The Nigerian Scam,” which is about a wealthy person looking to move funds from their accounts in Nigeria to the United States. Use the description of the beliefs or claims to construct inductive arguments about specific cases, whether real or imagined. Make the argument inductively reliable, but discuss why it is inductively weak.

Problem #3 (25 points)

The language of the media makes frequent use of analogy. Go to the web and search for three articles containing analogies on topics such as comparing Chamberlain’s appeasing Hitler to passing “Obamacare,” Vietnam and Afghanistan, and the Great Recession to the Great Depression, or another analogy of your choice. Select and summarize the arguments in three of the articles. Use your summaries to write a short essay, no longer than two double-spaced pages, discussing whether the analogies are weak or strong analogies. If weak, explain why the analogy fails. Otherwise, explain why you think the analogy should be allowed to stand.

Problem #4 (25 points)

Read the comments posted in response to an article on a news magazine or website. Please try to choose an article from a well-recognized source such as Slate.com, The Atlantic, the Wall Street Journal, etc. Also, please consider articles with a large number of comments from at least 20 uniquely identified commenters (i.e., if the same person with the same user name has responded 20 times, please do not use that example in your assignment). Collect as many examples as you can find of fallacies of relevance committed by the comment or letter writers, and then write a short paper in which you report on these fallacious arguments. In each case, identify the fallacy committed and explain precisely how the fallacy is committed by that particular argument. Describe in this way all of the examples of fallacies you’ve found. If your research also gives you examples of other types of fallacy besides fallacies of relevance (for example, appeal to an unqualified authority) include your analyses of those arguments in your discussion too.