Using the 6 steps for reconstructing arguments, analyze the following arguments by breaking them down into standard form and determining if they are valid and sound. Your answer should include the following two arguments written in standard form. Under each argument you should say whether the argument is valid and sound. 

1. I turned my attention to the case of twins, who are generally born within a short time of each other. Whatever significance in the natural order the astrologers may attribute to this interval of time, it is too short to be appreciated by human observation and no allowance can be made for it in the charts which an astrologer has to consult in order to cast a true horoscope. His predictions, then, will not be true, because he would have consulted the same charts for both Esau and Jacob and would have made the same predictions for each of them, whereas it is a fact that the same things did not happen to them both. Therefore, either he would have been wrong in his predictions or, if his forecast was correct, he would not have predicted the same future for each. And yet he would have consulted the same chart in each case. This proves that if he had foretold the truth, it would have been by luck, not by skill. (From St. Augustine, Confessions) 

2. Proponents of drug legalisation know the danger of drug use and wish to reduce it. It would be better if everyone could cope without mind-altering drugs, but prohibition is unenforceable. If some people insist on using drugs, it is better that they should buy them from law-abiding businessmen rather than criminals, and better still if they can be integrated into society and brought under medical supervision if it is needed.”

Answer rating: 100% (QA)

1 This argument is valid and sound because in ancient astrology both western and eastern a difference of a few minutes does make a significant difference The fact that twins have similar birth times b... View the full answer