Spotting the Reasons in the Editorial (Fourth Page)

Let's make this summary a visual summary so we can see it better:

                                                                                                                        
                                          |                                 (Because)    Someone complained.
                                          |                                                                                               
                                          |                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                            
                                          |
                                   (Because)    The federal nanny is meddling again.               
                                                                                                                                   
                                                                    (Because)  1. The government demanded that                                                                                                they sign the 1993 agreement.
                                                                                       2. The government extended its
                                                                                               demands.                                                  
                                                                                       3. The government imposed a fine.

This is what the argument structure looks like so far. Notice the "cascade effect" that many longer arguments exhibit:
The federal government should not dictate athletics schedules
               BECAUSE this is meddling in local affairs
                                            BECAUSE the following examples are examples of meddling:                                                            1) the federal government demanded they sign the                                                              agreement [meddling], and
                                                           2) the federal government made additional demands                                                              [meddling] and
                                                           3) the federal government imposed a fine [meddling].

The conclusion is supported by one reason which in turn is supported by others and so on.
Please note that there is a value assumption ( an unstated value judgement ) which must
be accepted along with the reason ( the federal government is meddling again in local
affairs ) if that reason is to support the conclusion. The value assumption is the following:
meddling in local affairs by the federal government is a bad thing.

Let's continue now with paragraph 4 on the next page.


Summary | Previous | Next | Editorial | Edit-Spotting Conclusion | Edit-Spotting Reasons(1),(2),(3)


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Last revision: June 6,1998
Send comments or additional sites to Frank Edler fedler@mccneb.edu