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From: flink@umcp-cs.UUCP (Paul V Torek)
Newsgroups: net.politics
Subject: Re: seat belts and hidden premises
Message-ID: <2663@umcp-cs.UUCP>
Date: Tue, 31-Dec-85 13:40:47 EST
Article-I.D.: umcp-cs.2663
Posted: Tue Dec 31 13:40:47 1985
Date-Received: Fri, 3-Jan-86 05:39:23 EST
References: <4741@alice.UUCP>
Reply-To: flink@maryland.UUCP (Paul V Torek)
Organization: U of Maryland, Computer Science Dept., College Park, MD
Lines: 20

In article <4741@alice.UUCP> ark@alice.UucP (Andrew Koenig) writes:
>Now let's apply this to the seat belt argument.  People are saying:
>
>       Seat belts save lives,
>               therefore
>       people should be required to use seat belts.
>
>The hidden premise here is:
>
>       Whenever an activity saves lives,
>       people should be required to perform it.

Actually, the hidden premise is probably more like:

        Whenever an activity saves many lives at trivial cost,
        people should be required to perform it.

Which has the advantage of being eminently plausible.

--The untiring iconoclast,                                      Paul V. Torek