Reference no: EM133417061
Assignment:
First, represent the argument in standard form using the General Form of Argument from Analogy.
• Second, suggest what you think is the best candidate for a genuine and morally relevant disanalogy between the cases being compared. "Premise 2 is false because"
• Third, test your suggested disanalogy for moral relevance.
Present-day white men, as innocent beneficiaries of historical injustice, do not owe compensation, including preferential treatment in hiring for desirable jobs, to the non-white victims of historical injustice.] Suppose my parents, divining that would grow up to have an unsurpassable desire to be a basketball player, bought an expensive growth hormone for me.
Unfortunately, a neighbor stole it and gave it to little Michael, who gained the extra 13 inches- my thirteen inches - and shot up to an enviable 6 feet 6 inches. Michael, better known as Michael Jordan, would have been a runt like me but for his luck. As it is he profited from the injustice, and excelled in basketball, as I would have done had I had my proper dose.
Do I have a right to the millions of dollars that Jordan made as a professional basketball player-the unjustly innocent beneficiary of my growth hormone? I have a right to something from the neighbor who stole the hormone, and it might be kind of Jordan to give me free tickets to the Bull's basketball games, and perhaps I should be remembered in his will. As far as I can see, however, he does not owe me anything, either legally or morally.
Suppose further that Michael Jordan and I are in high school together and we are both qualified to play basketball, only he is far better than I. Do I deserve to start in his position because would have been as good as he is had someone not cheated me as a child? Again, I think not. But if being the lucky beneficiary of wrong-doing does not entail that Jordan (or the coach) owes me anything in regards to basketball, why should it be a reason to engage in preferential hiring in academic positions or highly coveted jobs?