Chivalry Essay Research Paper Chilvalry is the

Chivalry Essay, Research Paper

Chilvalry is the most significant concept throughout history. Chivalry, in its

formal code, came to exist in the Middle Ages around the 12th century. It is

not clear as to whether the Romans, the Franks, or the Germans gave rise to

chivalry, but each culture brought the seeds of conduct with them. The

formal code was based on knightly conduct, with special emphasis on the

courtly manners towards women. Chivalry was such an important aspect of

morality that the church became heavily involved. The church used the code

of chivalry to reshape the idea of the social warrior. In doing this, the church

wanted citizens to identify with virtue, military excellence with courtesy, a

sense of justice, piety, and honor.(Ventura, pg. 46) People familiar with

King Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table know that a chivalrous act

usually involved someone, usually a damsel in distress and a brave knight

who comes to the rescue. For the sake of arguing, we need to establish our

definition of chivalry. ?Our reparative definitions are as follows: Chivalry-

the qualifications of the ideal knight. Dead- extinguished no longer existing.

Our Stipulative definitions are the following: Chivalry-for our purposes,

chivalry are the characteristics of a person who follows and believes in the

principles of the Chivalric Code. Dead-no longer occurring Chivalric Code:

I. Live to serve king and country. II. Live one’s life so that it is worthy of

respect and honor. III. Live for freedom, justice and all that is good. IV.

Choose death before dishonor. V. Never attack an unarmed foe. VI. Avoid

lying to your fellow man VII. Administer justice. VIII. Defend the week and

innocent. IX. Destroy evil in all of its monstrous forms. X. Show Respect to

authority. XI. Exhibit manners. XII. Do not allow anger to blind you, a cool

head will win the day. XIII. Exhibit courage in word and deed. XIV. Never

abandon a friend, ally,

or noble cause. XV. Never betray a confidence or comrade. XVI. Remain

loyal to one’s friends and those who lay their trust in thee. XVII. Fight with

honor. XVIII. Die with honor.?(Berger,pg.28) The code of honor that

chilvarly made people live by left a cultural tradition to be carried out many

hundreds of years.

Today, morality and ethics are rare commodities. One could generalize

these principles down to everyday situations, but even then, one would find

that the majority of people just don’t live by this code. Today, the majority of

people just do not hold these values true to their hearts. And it should be

clarified that just because you hold a door open, or pick up books for a

female you are not chivalrous. Chivalry is code that one must live their life

by, not simply picking and choosing a few to follow. For example, schools

no longer teach morality; but religion is able to reach only a few and families

are often broken. We see the results of this problem nightly on the television,

news, and in dailypapers.

Nobody in the world will do the right thing every single time. We are

going to pick for aspects of the chivalric code and demonstrate how they no

longer exist. Argument #1 Deductive Reasoning For our purposes cheating

will be defined as obtaining an unfair advantage to benefit oneself. It has

been shown through research that cheating is a common occurrence at all

college campuses. Of 68 people that were polled at Cal Poly 80% (or 54

people) admitted that they have cheated at one time or another. Cheating is a

direct violation of the Chivalric Code. P1 Cheating is obtaining an unfair

advantage to benefit oneself. P2 Cheating is a common occurrence at all

college campuses. P3 80% of Cal Poly students admitted to cheating at one

time or another. P4 Cheating is a violation of the Chivalric Code. Therefore,

C Chivalry is dead. A.R.G. Conditions Acceptability: Premise 1 is cogent

because it is a definition and not an arguable statement (common

knowledge). Premise 2 is acceptable because it is not easy to refute and gives

no evidence of not being acceptable. Premise 3 is a different case. It is

acceptable under the proper testimony clause. The premise is a fact from a

poll taken at Cal Poly and there is no reason to doubt the fact that the results

are true. Premise 4 is true by simple logic. Premise 5 is defended by the rest

of the argument and is therefore acceptable. Relevance: Relevance is also

evident in this argument. Premise 1 clearly defines the ambiguous term of

cheating for premise 2. Premise three is a proof of premise 2. It gives a

specific example to the broad statement made in premise 2. Premise 4 is

definitely relevant. Premise five is not relevant to premise 3 or 4 but is

relevant to premise 1 and 2. Grounds: This argument meets the G condition

because all the premises are true and relevant to themselves and support the

conclusion. Counter Argument P1 For this purpose we will define cheating

as directly copying someone’s work. P2 Cheating is not a common

occurrence in college classrooms. P3 Of the 68 people polled at Cal Poly

only 19 of them admitted copying off a neighbor’s work. P4 19 of 68 is less

than 51% that is needed to prove a majority. P5 Some people will always

defy the Chivalric Code but a majority is needed to prove the code is

nonexistent. Therefore, C Chivalry is not dead A.R.G. Conditions

Acceptability: Premise 1 is a stipulative definition and can not be argued.

Premise 2 uses the stipulative definition of premise 1 and makes a general

statement. This premise is accepted provisionally based on the fact that the

other premises aim to prove that statement true. Premise 3 is yet another fact

that can not be argued and is therefore acceptable. Premise 4 states a simple,

logical fact and can not be argued either. Premise 5 is easily refutable and is

not acceptable. Relevancy: Premise one is directly related to premise 2.

Premise 2 is proved true by the facts presented in premise 3. Premise 4 is

related to premise 3 through its usage of the information in 3. Premise 5 is

not relative to any of the other premises and allows this argument to not meet

the Relevancy condition. Grounds: This argument does not pass the G

condition because it does not meet the R condition. Premise 5 needs to be

supported by a sub-argument in order to be acceptable on the G condition.

Argument #2 Conductive Reasoning In today’s society people attempt to

cover up their mistakes, hoping that nobody will notice, this is not an

honorable act. Most people are not courageous or brave and rarely help when

someone is in trouble. Now days, people are quick to sue and often greedy

when it comes to money and financial matters. People are only generous

when others are watching. The more money the better! Loyalty is rarely seen

in any way shape or form. From the smallest social circle to family situations

across the nation, all lack loyalty. We live in a world of aggression and

revenge. If we are wronged we want to get that person or persons back. All

of these above principles, which happen to be in the Chivalric Code, are

often not seen in present day society. P1 In today’s society people attempt to

cover up their mistakes, hoping that no one will notice, this is not an

honorable act. P2 Most people are not courageous or brave; people no longer

help when they see that a person is in trouble. P3 Now more than ever

people are sue happy, intending to get everything that is theirs and more;

they are generous only when they have to be. P4 Loyalty is rarely seen

people cheat one another everyday, parents abandon their children, and

people talk about each other when they are not around. P5 People who are

able to “forgive and forget” are not common. Revenge, lawsuits and

aggression have taken their place. P6 Honor, courage, generosity,

forgiveness, and loyalty are rarely seen. Therefore, C Chivalry is dead. 1 + 2

+ 3 + 4 + 5 + 6 C (Converging Premises into one conclusion) Counter

Argument Honorable people treat others fairly and keep their word. People

are usually courageous and help those in trouble with out thinking of

themselves. People would rather give than receive showing that most

everyone is generous. People hardly ever ask for the return of something they

have loaned. People rarely cheat on each other or leave friends, children or

anyone else they love. These are all part of the Code of Chivalry. P1

Honorable people treat others fairly and keep their word. P2 People are

courageous and help those in trouble with out thinking of themselves. P3

People would rather give than receive showing that most everyone is

generous. P4 People hardly ever ask for the return of something that they