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SUBMIT TOUCHSTONE
Currently, it takes about 2-3 business days for a Touchstone to be graded.
Touchstones are projects that illustrate your comprehension of the course material,
help you to refine skills, and demonstrate application of knowledge. You can work on a
Touchstone anytime, but you can’t submit it for grading until you have completed the
unit’s Milestone. After you’ve submitted a Touchstone, it will be graded and counted
towards your final course score.
Touchstone 4: Contrasting Normative
Arguments in Standard Form
Scenario: In this assignment, you will make two contrasting normative arguments
about what one ought to do. Both arguments will be about the same topic; thus, at
least one of the arguments will contradict your personal opinion. You will compose
the arguments in standard form, as a series of statements that end with your
conclusion. Do not write your arguments as an essay.
Assignment: Download the submission template below, which further breaks down
the steps involved in this assignment. You will return the completed template as
your Touchstone submission.
Critical Thinking Touchstone 4 Template.docx
In order to foster learning and growth, all essays you submit must be newly
written specifically for this course. Any plagiarized or recycled work will result in a
Plagiarism Detected alert. Review this tutorial for more about plagiarism and the
Plagiarism Detected alert: Touchstones: Academic Integrity Guidelines. For
guidance on the use of generative AI technology, review Ethical Standards and
Appropriate Use of AI.
A. Directions
Step 1: Choose a Topic
Choose one topic from the following list:
• Should people eat meat?
• Should marijuana be legal?
• Should pet cats be kept indoors?
• Should zoos exist?
Should customers leave a tip in a coffee shop?
• Should seat belt wearing be mandatory?
• Should children be required to take gym/physical education?
• Should public roads be used for private car parking?
Step 2. Develop Logically Contradictory Normative Conclusions
Develop two logically contradictory normative conclusions on this topic. You do not
need to agree with both (or either!) conclusions, but you should be able to logically
support both of them.
•
The conclusions need not be phrased exactly the same as they are phrased in the
topic list, but they do need to be logically contradictory to one another.
EXAMPLE
If you selected the topic “Should people eat meat?”, your conclusions might
be:
• People should not eat meat.
• People should eat meat.
But it would also be acceptable to choose:
• People should reduce their meat consumption.
• People need not reduce their meat consumption.
Another option could be:
• It is morally permissible to eat fish.
• It is not morally permissible to eat fish.
Note that you need not indicate which conclusion you actually agree with. An
omnivore might write an excellent logical argument for veganism, or vice versa!
Step 3: Write Normative Argument for First Conclusion
Choose your first conclusion and write a normative argument in standard form to
reach that conclusion. This requires knowledge of the standard form of logical
arguments, which you can find in 2.1.1 What Is an Argument?, and understanding
of normative arguments, which you can find in 2.1.2 Identifying Arguments and
Statements. Because normative arguments rely on standards of human behavior,
you should also review 4.3.3 Moral Frameworks. The directions in the template will
give you further instructions.
Step 4: Write Normative Argument for Second Conclusion
Repeat Step 3 for your second conclusion.
Here is an example of two arguments with normative conclusions taking contrary
points of view. The normative premises are marked with an asterisk. This serves as
an example of what arguments look like in standard form. This topic may not be
used for your own Touchstone.
1. Americans are granted the right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of
happiness as a foundational principle of its founding documents.
2. Among these rights are bodily autonomy and personal decisions
about family planning.*
3. Forcing a parent to go through an unwanted pregnancy and
childbirth violates these principles by taking away their basic right
to liberty and long-term pursuit of happiness.*
4. Forcing a parent to go through an unwanted pregnancy and
childbirth also frequently presents a threat to the life of the birth
parent.
5. There is no constitutional or scientific reason to confer personhood
on a fetus.
6. Any opinion on the personhood of fetuses is thus not based on law or
science, but a personal moral or religious choice.
7. The Constitution (Amendment 1) establishes the freedom of religion.
8. Therefore, any law derived from a religious stance is
unconstitutional (from 5-7).
9. Therefore, pregnant people have the right to terminate a
pregnancy for any reason (from 1-4, 8).
1. It is wrong to kill a human being without justification such as selfdefense.*
2. An unplanned pregnancy may be inconvenient, but only in rare cases
does it present a threat to a person’s life.
3. In no other cases besides abortion do we make it legal to murder
people who inconvenience us.
4. Born children are also inconvenient, but it is not legal for parents to
kill them.
5. In no other cases besides abortion do we make it legal to murder the
born children of rape or incest.
6. A fetus is a viable human being at 24 weeks.
7. Therefore, except in cases where the pregnancy presents a threat
to the birth parent’s life, abortion should be illegal after 24 weeks.
Step 5: Reflection
Answer the reflection questions about your reasoning behind the arguments you
wrote. One question asks to identify a deductive rule of inference or an inductive
practice used in your arguments. You can find these in 3.3.2 Valid Rules of
Inference From Conditional Statements, 3.3.3 Valid Rules of Inference From
Conjunction and Disjunction, and the 4.1.4 Inference to the Best Explanation, or
other inductive practices discussed throughout unit 4.
Refer to the checklist below throughout the Touchstone process. Do not submit your
Touchstone until it meets these guidelines.
1. Argument Preparation
❒ Is each argument in standard form, not paragraph form?
❒ Do your two arguments have logically contradictory conclusions?
❒ Is each argument at least five declarative sentences, ending in a
conclusion?
❒ Does each argument have a normative conclusion (saying what people
ought to do)?
❒ Is there at least one normative premise that supports each conclusion?
2. Annotating Your Argument
❒ Did you place an asterisk (*) on the normative premise(s) that support
your conclusion?
❒ Did you underline any subconclusions in your argument?
❒ Are there sources for any assertions that are fact-based and not well
known/accepted?
3. Reflection Questions
❒ Did you answer all five of the reflection questions satisfactorily?
❒ Do your answers meet the length requirement and fully answer the
question?
B. Rubric
Logical Arguments:
Form (24 points)
Response shows
understanding of logical
arguments.
Advanced
Proficient
Acceptable
Both arguments meet all
requirements of proficiency, with
notably clear writing and careful
sequencing of statements.
Both arguments have the
minimum number (5) of
statements. All statements are
declarative (make an
assertion), and final sentences
are normative conclusions.
One or both arguments fall
goal by 1-2 sentences, or 1sentences do not make dec
statements, or final sentenc
a normative conclusion.
Logical Arguments:
Strength/Validity (24
points)
Response shows
understanding of
premises supporting a
conclusion.
Logical Arguments:
Analysis (12 points)
Correctly identifies and
describes components of
a logical argument.
Support for premises is
included.
Reflection – Key
Concepts (30 points)
Answers reflection
questions thoroughly and
thoughtfully.
Reflection – Critical
Thinking (18 points)
Answers to questions
demonstrate good habits
of critical thinking
Conventions (12
points)
Submission follows
conventions for standard
written English and
meets requirements.
Advanced
Proficient
Acceptable
Both arguments meet all the
requirements of proficiency, with
a notably convincing or sound
argument.
Both arguments have premises
that show the conclusion is true
or probable and have at least
one normative premise to
support the conclusion.
One or both arguments inc
premises which do not sup
conclusion and/or there is
normative statement to sup
conclusion.
Both arguments meet criteria for
proficiency, with a well-formed
subargument that is itself
valid/strong and provides
compelling support to the
conclusion.
Both arguments identify the
normative statement(s) that
support the conclusion,
correctly identify any
subconclusions in the
argument, and include
references to support factual
assertions that are not well
known and widely accepted.
Both arguments each inclu
the 3 requirements: identif
normative statements in pr
identifying subconclusions
providing support for factu
assertions that are not wel
known/accepted.
Demonstrates deep
understanding of key concepts in
the class with accurate and
insightful responses to questions,
using the appropriate vocabulary
from the tutorials. Supports each
answer with specifics where
needed. Meets or exceeds
recommended length guidelines.
Demonstrates good
understanding of key concepts
in the class with accurate
responses to questions, using
appropriate vocabulary from
the tutorials. Supports each
answer with specifics where
needed. Meets or exceeds
recommended length
guidelines.
Demonstrates some unders
of key concepts in the class
lack specifics or detail, and
answers may be inaccurate
insubstantial, or makes onl
occasional or inappropriate
the vocabulary from the tu
Meets recommended lengt
guidelines.
Demonstrates thoughtful
reflection; includes insights,
observations, and/or examples in
all responses, following or
exceeding response length
guidelines.
Demonstrates thoughtful
reflection; includes occasional
insights, observations, and/or
examples, following response
length guidelines.
Primarily demonstrates tho
reflection, but some respon
lacking in detail or insight;
primarily follows response
guidelines.
There are almost no errors in
grammar, punctuation, spelling,
and capitalization; all length and
formatting requirements are met.
There are minor errors in
grammar, punctuation, spelling,
and capitalization that do not
impede readability; length and
formatting requirements are
nearly met.
There are frequent errors i
grammar, punctuation, spe
and capitalization that som
impede readability; length
formatting requirements a
met.
C. Submission Requirements
The following requirements must be met for your submission:
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Use a readable 12-point font and single spacing.
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The recommended length for each answer is included in the template.
All writing must be appropriate for an academic context.
Writing must be original and written for this assignment. Plagiarism of any
kind will be returned ungraded; subsequent plagiarism will receive a grade
of 0.
Enter your name and date where prompted in the template.
Include all of the assignment components in a single file. Acceptable file
formats include .doc and .docx.
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