Socrates Argument

Part II: Analyzing an Argument
Reconstructing the argument
The examples I’ve given are overly simplistic. Usually arguments come in complicated prose. It is therefore difficult to figure out what the argument is, let alone whether it is good. Our first step is to reconstruct the argument. That is, we must convert the argument into a series of statements, identifying the premises and theconclusion and laying them out so that the premises lead to the conclusion.

Take Socrates’s argument in the Apology:
“For Death is to be as it were nothing, and to be deprived of all sensation... And if no sensation remains, then death is like a dreamless sleep. In this case, death will be a blessing. For, if any one compares such a night as this, in which he so profoundly sleeps as not evento see a dream, with the other nights and days of his life, and should declare how many he had passed better and more pleasantly than this night, I think that not only a private man, but even the great king himself, would find so small a number that they might be easily counted.”

The first step is to identify the conclusion. Go through the passage and try to find the point. What is Socratestrying to establish?
It’s buried in there: “Death will be a blessing.”

To proceed, we first have to get rid of anything unnecessary – mere rhetorical flourishes, repetitions, and irrelevancies. Go through the passage and get rid of anything that doesn’t support the conclusion in some way:
“For Death is to be deprived of all sensation... if no sensation remains, then death is like adreamless sleep. ...death will be a blessing. ...if any one compares such a night [of sleep without dreams]... with the other nights and days of his life, and should declare how many he had passed better and more pleasantly than this night, I think.. [he] would find so small a number...”

Once we’ve dispensed with what we don’t need, we can reformulate the argument as a series of statements:
1.Death is to be deprived of all sensation.
2. If no sensation remains, death is like a dreamless sleep.
3. Anyone will consider a dreamless sleep better than most days and nights.
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4. Death is a blessing.

Now we’re ready to add anything that seems to be missing. Are there any premises that seem to be assumed, but aren’t stated?
1. Death is to be deprived of all sensation.2. If no sensation remains, death is like a dreamless sleep.
3. Death is like a dreamless sleep.
4. Anyone will consider a dreamless sleep better than most days and nights.
5. Anyone will consider death better than most days and nights.
6. Anything that is better than most days and nights is a blessing.
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7. Death is a blessing.

Now, we need to say something about theinference in the argument. We need to say how the argument is put together. We should identify assumed premises and sub-arguments – conclusions that are premises for the main conclusion. This will also help us to identify if anything else is missing.
1. Death is to be deprived of all sensation. (Assumption)
2. If no sensation remains, death is like a dreamless sleep. (Assumption)
3.Death is like a dreamless sleep. (Conclusion from 1 and 2)
4. Anyone will consider a dreamless sleep better than most days and nights. (Assumption)
5. Anyone will consider death better than most days and nights. (Conclusion from 3 and 4)
6. Anything that is better than most days and nights is a blessing. (Assumption)
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7. Death is a blessing. (From 3, 5, and 6)

At thispoint, we’ve completed the reconstruction of the argument. No reconstruction is perfect, and I don’t mean to suggest that this is the only possible reconstruction of Socrates’s argument. It just seems to me as if this is what Socrates is saying. If you disagree with my critique, you can always question the faithfulness of my reconstruction. That’s a standard philosophical move.
Analyzing an...