Read the scenarios described in Application 12.3 on page 203-204 of the course textbook. Then, select one scenario, and apply the three-step process described in Chapter 11 and the two-step process described in Chapter 13 to resolve the issue. As you develop your response, ensure that you are not using any of the faulty argument approaches described in Chapter 12.
Identify, investigate (as necessary), and resolve each of the following issues. Be sure you do not just accept your reasoning uncritically. Evaluate it by using the approach explained on pages 197-198. Then modify your argument as necessary and decide how you could most effectively demonstrate its soundness.
a. Radar detectors give speeders a warning so that they can slow down in time to avoid getting a ticket. Some people believe the detectors should be banned because they help people break the law. Others disagree, arguing that they should be able to protect themselves from the sneaky practices of highway patrols.
b. One proposal for combating the drug problems is government seizures of the property (cars, homes, etc.) of convicted drug dealers. One objection to this proposal is that such seizure could violate the rights of innocent parties, such as spouses and children.
c. Since smoking is not permitted at one's desk in many companies, significant time is persumably lost in unauthorized smoking breaks in restrooms or outside of buildings. A company could save itself that time, and the money it represents, by establishing a policy of hiring only nonsmokers. Of course, some people would consider such a policy discriminatory.
d. Psychiatrist Thomas Szasz wrote: "If he who breaks the law is not punished, he who obeys it is cheated. This, and this alone, is why lawbreakers ought to be punished; to authenticate as good, and to encourage as useful, law-abiding behavior. The aim of the criminal law cannot be correction or deterrance; it can only be the maintenance of the legal order," Is this viewpoint reasonable? Consider other possibilities, make your decision, and then explain your view and your reasons for holding it, taking care to anticipate and respond to possible objections to it.
e. The Transportation Security Administration (TSA) was created not long after 9/11. At first a division of the Department of Homeland Security. Its function is to ensure that safety of U.S. travel, particularly air travel. Airports can elect to use private firms to conduct screening, but the great majority use TSA. At first, TSA banned all knives, fingernail clippers and liquids, including water not purchased in a secure area. Then they permitted small knives, but soon changed their minds and banned them, even though they allowed hockey sticks, and golf clubs on board. They also spent tens of millions of dollars on full-body scanners, but then responded to public pressure and removed them. Should TSA be abolished and its function performed by private contractors?