Introduction

Human beings are naturally logical, born with the ability to reason about how the world works—and this is what makes humans such a successful species. However, humans are also naturally prone to making logical mistakes. Socrates worried that a democracy based on ignorance would soon fall apart. The second logical concept needed for evaluating arguments is soundness. Although validity is a matter of fact, soundness is a matter of personal opinion. This chapter examines both sides of a number of controversial issues. They are careful to construct a deductively valid argument for each side. Philosophers love to debate controversial issues. They work hard to construct arguments for their point of view.