Assignment task: Construct an argument by analogy as prompted in each scenario below. Write out the argument in the standard form of an argument by analogy.
a. Suppose that a friend of yours has downloaded dozens of movies from the Internet without paying for them. Has your friend done something wrong? Or is it ok to download movies without paying for them? Construct an argument by analogy to support your position.
b. Over 3000 years ago, a people called the Olmecs dominated what is now southern Mexico. Today, the Olmecs are most famous for the stone heads that they carved out of enormous boulders. Each head, as tall as a grown man and weighing up to forty tons, has a unique and expressive face. Archaeologists suspect that the heads depicted powerful Olmec rulers. The ancient Olmec city of San Lorenzo boasted ten of these collosal heads, but when the city collapsed, the heads were mutilated and buried. No one knows exactly why. Come up with your own guess about why the heads were mutilated and buried. Construct an argument by analogy to support your position. Want a hint? Think about other instances in which a culture's political or religious monuments have been destroyed.
c. People frequently argue that some activity should be avoided because it is "unnatural." For instance, some people argue that people should not be vegetarians because humans "naturally" eat an omnivorous diet. Construct an argument by analogy to show that this argument is flawed.