Chapter 1.2 Good For

This assignment is due 48 hours after the Chapter Test is given.

• Good Fors' solutions can be turned in anytime before 5:00 PM two days after the Chapter Test.
• Good Fors are worth 10 points of extra credit each.
• Answers must be accompanied by valid reasoning. Just like the tests, the answer alone isn't enough!
• Please enter your solution in the text area at the bottom of this page. DON'T FORGET TO GIVE YOUR NAME!

Jeanne d'Arc (known as Joan of Arc in English) is one of the most heroic persons in French history. She was born on January 6, 1412, and lived much of her life in the village of Domremy in the duchy of Lorraine. Joan was a peasant girl who tended sheep on the family farm and did not learn how to read or write. During the years preceding Joan's birth, France had lost several military battles against the English. These military losses placed much of France in the control of the king of England. France was helpless. Many historians refer to this time period as the darkest period in France's history. Charles, the rightful heir to the crown of France, fled his throne as town after town fell to the English. When the English troops captured Paris, Henry V, king of England, claimed France as his domain and crowned his son king of France.

Like many people who lived during this period of history, Joan had an implicit belief in the supernatural. One day at the age of twelve while guarding the flocks, Joan heard the voice of an angel who instructed her to seek out Charles the Dauphin (French for the crowned prince) and lead his army against the English troops that controlled the city of Orleans. After a period of time, Joan was able to persuade Charles that God had spoken to her and that he as the rightful heir to the crown (in God's eyes) should provide her with a small army. Once she had secured a small army, Joan lead this army into battle against the English and liberated the city of Orleans. Henceforth, she was known as the Maid of Orleans. She then escorted the Dauphin to the city of Rheims (where all the French kings were crowned) and had him crowned King Charles VII of France in 1429.

Shortly after this event, Joan of Arc was captured by English sympathizers who sold her to the English. But her capture did not help the English, the tide had already turned in France's favor. During the next decade, the English lost most of the territory they controlled on the continent of Europe to the French.

The English who held Joan of Arc prisoner wanted to execute her. However, they did not want the French to think that they were executing a war hero. Instead, they made an argument to prove that Joan of Arc was actually a witch. Condemned by a Church court for witchcraft, Joan was burned at the stake in Rouen in 1431. She was 19 years of age.

Analyze the following argument about Joan of Arc for logical validity. If the argument is not valid, determine the flaw in the argument without constructing a truth table. If we assume that each of the following statements in this argument are true:

Joan of Arc is a female. Females have no experience in waging war. If the king gave a female an army, then that female has supernatural powers. A person with supernatural powers is a witch or a saint. If a woman is a witch, then she can defeat the strongest army of men. The king gave her an army. She led this army against an English army that was ten times as strong as hers. Joan of Arc defeated this army and freed the town of Orleans. A witch is a threat to men of all nations. A witch's spell can be broken by fire.

Can we conclude that:

Therefore, Joan of Arc is a witch and to break her spell, she must be burned at the stake.

Postscript. In 1920, after World War I had ended and much of France lay in ruins, the Vatican elected to canonize Joan of Arc as a patron saint of France.

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