DECONSTRUCTING ARGUMENTS
In the real world, arguments do not come neatly labeled, their parts identified and their relation- ships laid bare. So you have to do the labeling and connecting yourself, and that can be hard work. Where are the premises and the conclusion? Are there implied premises? What statements are irrel- evant to the argument, just background or window dressing? How are all these pieces related? Fortu- nately there is a tool that can help you penetrate all the verbiage to uncover the essential argument (or arguments) within: argument diagramming.
48 Á PART 2: MORAL REASONING
213006_03_039-064_r1_el.qxp:213006_03_039-064_r1_el 8/3/15 9:46 AM Page 48
So let’s try to diagram the argument in this passage:
In 2003 the United States attacked Iraq and thereby started a war. President Bush justified his decision to go to war by saying that the action was necessary to preempt Iraq from launching a military strike against the United States. But the obvious question about the war has hardly been addressed and rarely answered: