Harry is being directly responsive. He grants Sally's first
premise, but denies the supressed premise. He makes a point of noting
that the issue isn't merely desert, but the institutionalization of a system
of retribution which will likely make mistakes. Again, to pursue
the matter further, we would want Harry to give us evidence that mistakes
have been made in the past. One might also disagree with Harry
that it is worse to execute an innocent person than to fail to execute
a guilty person (a false positive is worse than a false negative).
Warning: the use of the phrase "Let's face it..." serves no philosophic
point, though it may be rhetorically effective. In your own writing
you should avoid the use of such phrases: let the arguments and facts speak
for themselves.
Return to Exercise on Argument
Analysis
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