Case #4 Thesis Development Workshop

        Here are some premise-conclusion enthymemes taken from our basic case source.  Read each one and think about it for a moment.  Then, pick the most interesting one and free-write in response to it for three minutes.  What have you discovered about your response to its logic and thesis?  If you think this will lead to a paper you care about, continue to write for another five to ten minutes, at least, to develop your interest in what you have to say.  If not, pick another, better passage, and write for three minutes about its logic and thesis.  When you have discovered a passage whose logic and thesis interests you most, continue to write about it to produce a complete, printed draft that you will bring to the Friday rough-draft conferences.

Students responding to the U.S. Department of Education study:

• [Presumed premise: Drug use is bad only if you take drugs "to get high"--drugs used to improve your health or mental performance are all good.]
• Conclusion: I take mind-enhancing drugs "to help me with my problems" or "to help me with specific tasks," so they are all good.

Richard Restak, on overall safety and legal use  [Supply the presumed premise(s)]

• "We're going to see it not only in schools, but in businesses, especially where mental endurance matters."

Premises with implied conclusions [supply the conclusions] and conclusions with implied premises [supply the premise(s)]:

• "[I]t's medicine parents give to 8-year-olds, . . . brand-name stuff, in precise dosages."  [Implied conclusion= ?]
• "In the name of altering mood, energy and thinking patterns, we have been marinating our brains in chemicals for a very long time." [Implied conclusion= ?]
• "Beta blockers have been the dirty little secret of classical musicians since the 1970s" . . . "when it became clear Inderol controlled stage fright." [Implied conclusion= ?]
• "Why should they be taking drugs?  They should just study!  I think this is absurd.  What's so terrible about having a 3.9?" (Eric R. Kandel)  [Implied premise= ?]
• "There are lots of populations out there that really, really need help."  (Eric R. Kandel re: people with memory loss due to Down syndrome, chronic depression, Alzeheimer's, chemotherapy, or schizophrenia) [Implied premise= ?]