Truth And Facts: Debate On “Is Donald Trump a Traitor?”

Dear Students, please read the following set instructions for writing an Outline, in lieu of a first paper. Follow the instructions carefully. In particular, let me say this. Your outline should be so detailed, that it should almost read like a paper. If you do what I am asking for you will have very little to do to complete the final paper. You will have to do things like insert transitions between ideas. But all the ideas should be in the outline, clearly laid out and in detail. This is Option 1 for an outline. I will provide a 2nd option, which will be an Outline for the paper about sex and gender. For this paper, you must listen to the debate between Glenn Greenwald and James Risen. 

Richard Feldman, in Reason and Argument, discusses the basic idea behind the view that truth is correspondence to the facts. He states “To say that a sentence is true is to say that things really are the way the sentence says they are” (Feldman, 26). In The Power of Critical Thinking, Lewis Vaughn distinguishes between fact and opinion, and the importance of the relation between evidence and facts. In the debate between Glenn Greenwald and James Risen, two general problems arise, which go beyond the concerns about Putin, Trump, and the 2016 presidential election. The first pertains to what the terms we use mean, and how meaning impacts (1) the truth of a claim, and (2), how we understand a claim in the first place. (I.e., how we interpret it and what situations we think it applies to). The second problem, which became an overarching theme in the debate, pertains to the importance of evidence in relation to facts.

In this outline for your paper:

State, in detail, (no abbreviations, no short-cut writing, e.g., this=that; full (clear) sentences) what you think the general debate between James Risen and Glenn Greenwald is about.

Lay out what I explain above, in outline form, but with the details. Thus, in addition to laying out the above, in outline form (yes, I repeat myself intentionally), you must provide an example illustrating the basic idea behind the view that truth is correspondence to the facts. You will have to state, explicitly, Vaughn's (not yours) distinction between evidence and facts.

State clearly and explicitly the problem about meaning, as it arises, in the debate. Explain briefly (1) and (2). What are these problems? (You must elaborate when you write your papers. Although you must be brief here, you must also be explicit. I've told you to practice this form of writing in your posts.

Who won the debate? Here you get to lay out your But remember that when you do so, you must repeat something you have already made clear: what the debate is about. (There may be different debates going on in this one debate).

Your paper will be based on this outline.

No shortcuts. No one word sentences.