Please grade my essay. I will reciprocate :)

[swiftie]

I wrote an essay re "Analyzing an Issue" in 30 minutes while giving a Manhattan Practice Test. I would be really grateful if you could critique it! I will try my best to reciprocate and grade your essay.

 

Prompt:

 

Some people believe that teaching morality should be the foundation of education. Others believe that teaching a foundation of logical reasoning would do more to produce a moral society.

 

Write a response in which you discuss which view more closely aligns with your own position and explain your reasoning for the position you take. In developing and supporting your position, you should address both of the views presented above.

 

My Essay:

 

Teaching a foundation of logical reasoning is necessary to ensure that people behave morally. A person who lacks the ability to reason logically cannot be depended upon to do the morally right thing, even if his intentions are good.

 

 

Advances in psychology tell us that humans aren't perfectly rational agents. Aside from committing what are called logical fallacies in reasoning, they are also prone to cognitive biases. Only a person who is well aware of them can be expected to reason correctly. An introductory course in logic includes learning about syllogisms, deductive and inductive arguments, what it means for a deductive argument to be logically valid or sound, and common fallacies.

 

 

An "ad hominem" attack is an example of fallacy that is not uncommon. It occurs when a person tries to invalidate an argument by discrediting the person who made the argument. It is true that pondering over this can make someone who hasn't taken a logic class realize that there's something wrong with ad hominem. But, there are too many forms of bad arguments and one cannot be relied upon to independently discover all of them or even try to do so. Moreover, cognitive biases like confirmation bias (the tendency to neglect evidence against your position) worsen the situation.

 

 

Why care so much about logical reasoning in order to produce a moral society? Because what a foundation of morality can teach are basic moral values, like the Golden Rule or do not harm others unnecessarily. In practical situations, what to do must be decided by making arguments where those moral values serve as premises. The various moral systems e.g. deontology and consequentialism utilize this. One form of consequentialism, utilitarianism requires a person to do a cost-benefit analysis of each action he does. If the costs of an action outweigh the benefits, a utilitarian will decide against going through with it.

 

 

On the other hand, as has been witnessed by humanity, fundamentalists commit atrocities while thinking that they are behaving morally and according to God's instructions. Basic logic, if taught to them, can have gone a long deal to make them realize that their actions aren't really moral.

 

 

So, I would advocate teaching logical reasoning over morality itself as the basic moral values, if they are to be adopted by a person, are intuitive, thanks to evolution.