Can anyone tell me what my teacher meant in this description for a paper I have to write?

Question

Our assignment is to write an argumentative paper and It says your topic might present paradoxes in which two contradictory claims may both merit approval . In such a conclusion, you may incline to one position or another or may settle for explaining and clarifying the issues without going so far as to make a definitive decision. WHAT?!?

Answer 1

I do 'get' the scenario your teacher is getting at.
I will say that at my age I should.
At your age I would have asked the same question as you have - it would have been 'as clear as mud'.
The teacher is way out there. There' gotta be a better way than to ask a class to argue something from both sides and approve of both and make up the topic on their own!!
Then he(she) retorts that you don't have to decide either way. Sounds counter-productive to me.
You can argue whatever you pick, but you should have to decide on the 'lesser of two evils' to use a well-coined phrase.
One side has gotta be better than the other or you're just 'blowin' in the wind'!
Only thing I can come up with is really deep - the 'Scopes' trial - it was real - about 'creationism' or 'evolution'.Teacher got busted for teaching 'evolution' in the south. Two GREAT lawyers hammered it out in impossible heat for quite a time.
Although it was against the law, and a conviction was for sure, (the movie was great!! - look it up - Spencer Tracy & Frederick March - called 'Inherit The Wind'- based on a passage in the Bible!), and it ended up that way(small potatos of a fine), the trial, at least in the movie, was a masterpiece. You could swing both ways(especially considering Republican or Democrat, conservative(religious) or liberal). the guy who argued for 'creationism' dropped dead as soon as the trial was over, apparently in the middle of one of his courtroom 'sermons'. Whether it's all true what was in the movie about certain events is a moot point. Argue it if you may. I hope you can. Good luck.
I must say, this is one case where you CAN 'sit on the fence'!

Answer 2

Pick a topic that you can see both sides as important...a topic that people argue about...

Like whether the toilet paper should unroll from the top, or from the bottom...

She wants you to argue both sides...

You need to understand the terminology she is using:
A paradox - is a puzzle...
Contradictions - are things that oppose each other
merit approval - means both sides have value and in general - people would approve the arguements both ways
She says...after you explain it...pick a side and give your reasons for picking it. Or, you can argue for not picking a side at all...

In the toilet paper example...some people like the roll to unroll over the top - it is easier to use without tearing the paper.

Some people says...better to come from underneath because if it tears...good, you will not waste so much.

Both are viable arguements... then you pick a side...

I would rather pay a little more, and have enough paper...than worry about having to find the end of the roll everytime....so I would choose it unrolling from the top.

Does this help? Good luck....

Answer 3

discuss for example the pros and cons of the death penalty,or abortion.
both are contentious subjects so lots of room for argument.
play devils advocate and argue opposite what you really believe.
then give the counter argument.
other topics could be euthanasia, same sex marriage etc etc.
all very interesting.good for your teacher ,sounds like a clever person.
good luck
ps a paradox is a seeming absurdity,an anomally or a an ambiguity,a contradiction or an enigma(a puzzle)
some just do not have right or wrongs.just conflicting views all of whuich sound reasonable.
another topic may be creationism.

Answer 4

In other words write a paper which presents an argument, where the claims of both sides may be somewhat right. You may be in favor of one side over the other or you may be neutral in your opinion and just give the facts as seen by both sides, without concluding one is right and one is wrong. Got it?

Answer 5

A paradox can be described as an opinion or statement contrary to commonly accepted opinion. You teacher probably wants you to choose a topic that applies to this day and age that can be agrued pro/con.

Examples:
- death penalty vs. life without parole
- pro-life vs. pro-choice
- PETA vs. fur lovers

Answer 6

Go to the law library, to court cases so and so. v. so and so. and do the math. this sound like a court case to me., or just two sides to a story and neither is right or wrong. i don't know im no Einstein. I just a regular person trying to answer your question and what a question to be asking someone to answer for you..