acbeth's ambition and not his wife was the cause of his ruin.

5. Macbeth's wife was the cause of his ruin.

+Theme CI.+--_Select one of the subjects in the exercise above, and write
out two or three of the strongest arguments in its favor._

(Consider the premises, especially those which are not expressed. Is
your argument deductive or inductive?)

+183. The Basis of Belief.+--If you ask yourself, Why do I believe this?
the answer will in many cases show that your belief in the particular case
under consideration arises because you believe some general principle or
theory which applies to it.

One person may believe that political economy should be taught in high
schools because he believes that it is the function of the high school to
train its pupils for citizenship, and that the study of political economy
will furnish this training. Another person may oppose the teaching of
political economy because he believes that pupils of high school age are
not sufficiently mature in judgment to discuss intelligently the
principles of political economy, and that the study of these principles at
that age does not furnish desirable training for citizenship. It is
evident that an argument between these two concerning the teaching of
political economy in any particular school would consist in a discussion
of the conflicting general theories which each believed to be true.

We have shown in Section 179 that one high school principal might believe
that boys should be allowed to choose their own studies because he
believed that they would not generally select the easy ones; while another
principal would oppose free electives because he believes that boys would
choose the less difficult studies. The proposition that "The United States
should retain its hold on the Philippines" involves conflicting theories
of the function of this government. So it will be found with many of our
beliefs that either consciously or unconsciously they are based on general
theories. It is important in argument to know what these theories are, and
especially to consider what may be the general theories of those whom we
wish to convince.

+184. Appeals to General Theory, Authority, and Maxims.+--A successful
argument in deductive form must be based upon principles and theories that
the audience believes. A minister in preaching to the members of his
church may with success proceed by deductive methods, because the members
believe the general pri