Death Penalty Arguments Response

     While it might be because of the order that we read the articles, I now find myself in favor of abolishing the death penalty. Where I stood before reading these two pieces was very ambivalent. I had heard both sides of the argument, but I wasn’t quite sure I wanted to take a firm stance on the issue. Now, though, I am leaning more towards the side of Bruck’s opinion rather than Koch’s. I found Bruck’s argument more convincing because it appealed to my sense of ethics. While Koch argued very well the possible ways that the death penalty can be considered morally right, I wasn’t totally convinced. It may not have been as much convincing as it was just my moral views, but I agreed more with Bruck’s views. Both arguments however had good logical appeals, and included some humor with them as well. The two major fallacies I noticed in these essays were Straw Man and Faulty Analogy. For example, when Bruck said, “[Koch] suggests that we trivialize murder unless we kill murderers. By that logic, we also trivialize rape unless we sodomize rapists.” I personally think the analogies made by both sides were fine, but a true stickler might say otherwise. Overall, both sides made very persuasive arguments, so it’s not by convincing but simply by personal inclination that I favor Bruck’s angle.