ARGUMENT TECHNIQUES

Jerry Springer

Oprah

QUARREL VS. ARGUMENT

Purpose & Audience

Reasoning strategies (Organization)

The rational appeal

The emotional appeal

The ethical appeal

Fallacies

Ethical issues

WHAT ARE THE ELEMENTS OF AN

ARGUMENTATIVE ESSAY?

Demonstrating facts

Nursing is hard work, dorms are poor study places

Defend/oppose a policy, action, or project

Company should drug-test employees

Assert the greater/lesser value of

someone/something

Ranking candidates for promotion

PURPOSE & A

Think like a reader (oh wait, you are...)

Consider reader’s interests, expectations, and needs

concerning this issue

Identify the evidence most likely to convince readers

Identify the objections readers will have

Identify the consequences of this argument

Decide how objections should be addressed

P & AUDIENCE

Induction

General claim is supported by specific evidence

(direct observations, statistical data, scientific

studies)

Makes conclusion probable but doesn’t prove

Must demonstrate credibility of evidence

College program effective because most students in

it get jobs

Deduction

Analogy

REASONING STRATEGIES (ORGANIZATION)

Deduction

Demonstrates how a specific conclusion follows

logically from initial premise

Must make clear how conclusions do actually

follow from agreed-upon premises

Politicians assert the benefit to future generations,

then policies to favor that

Analogy

REASONING STRATEGIES (ORGANIZATION)

Analogy

Weakest form of rational appeal

Never prove anything, only show probability

and sometimes offer explanations

Assumption that humans respond to

chemicals as rats do

REASONING STRATEGIES (ORGANIZATION)

Present reasons and evidence in a way that

readers will find as reasonable or plausible

Established truths

Opinions of authorities

Primary source information

Statistical findings

Personal experience

THE RATIONAL APPEAL

To Evaluate Evidence

How credible are the sources of information?

How reliable is the evidence?

How much confirming evidence is there?

How much contradictory evidence is there?

How well established is the evidence?

How well does the evidence actually support or fit the

claim?

What does the evidence actually allow you to

conclude?

THE RATIONAL APPEAL

Identify stories, scenes, or events of the topic

that arouse the strongest emotions

Can lend powerful reinforcement

Tug heartstrings of readers to take actions

THE EMOTIONAL APPEAL

Write with genuine concern for topic,

commitment to truth and sincere respect for

others

Tone is paramount

Offensive, arrogant, or mean-spirited is

ineffective

Look for snide comments

Pleasant, fair-minded, decent is effective

THE ETHICAL APPEAL

Lapses in logic that reflect upon ability to think clearly and weaken argument

Hasty generalization – someone bases a conclusion on too little evidence

Student tries to reach instructor one time and declares that the instructor is impossible to reach

Non sequitur – draws unwarranted conclusions from seemingly ample evidence

Bill is out every night. I wonder who he is dating?

Stereotyping – attaches one or more supposed characteristics to a group or one of its members

Teenagers are lousy drivers

FALLACIES

Lapses in logic that reflect upon ability to think clearly and weaken argument

Card Stacking – only part of available evidence given while deliberately omitting essential info College students have it easy because they are only in

classes 12 hours per week.

Either/Or Fallacy – only two choices exist when several are available Either buy tires or get stuck inside this winter

Begging the Question – asserts truth of an unproven statement Vitamin A is harmful to your health, so all bottles should

have a warning label. If enough of us write to the FDA, this could change. But how do we know it’s harmful when evidence isn’t given?

FALLACIES

Lapses in logic that reflect upon ability to think clearly and weaken argument

Circular Argument – supports position merely by restating it

That person is overweight because he is fat.

Red Herring – argues off point

American car is superior but abruptly shifts to the plight of laid off workers

Ad Hominem – argument attacks an individual rather than opinion

Sam doesn’t deserve a promotion. His divorce was messy.

FALLACIES

Lapses in logic that reflect upon ability to think clearly and weaken argument

Appeal to the Crowd– plays on irrational fears and prejudices of audience

The Red Scare, Adolf Hitler

Guilt by Association – some similarity between one person to another

Similar to poisoning the well

Post Hoc – assuming that because one event follows another, the first caused the second

Coincidence that a black cat ran across the street right before the car crashed into the telephone pole

FALLACIES

Lapses in logic that reflect upon ability to think

clearly and weaken argument

Faulty Analogy – error of assuming two

circumstances are similar in all respects when

they are not

Football coach insists that if he emulates Lombardi’s

techniques that his team will win conference

Doesn’t take players into consideration, level of play, etc.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fXLTQi7vVsI

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dln3DJEcghY

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S8LydU2P7Yw

FALLACIES

Argument is an attempt to alter attitudes or spark action

Responsibility for quality of argument and possible consequences

Carefully consider stance and argument

Is it credible? Is it dependent on certain conditions?

Be fair to other positions

Legitimacy of reasons and evidence

Examine fallacies and other possible reader manipulations

Explore the consequences of readers adopting this position

ETHICAL ISSUES

FOR MONDAY…

Read Marissa Brown’s “Teacher Natalie Munroe

Has a Right to Call Kids Lazy and Rude,”

Jonathan Zimmerman’s “When Teachers Talk out

of School,”

Byron York’s “A Carefully Crafted Immigration Law

in Arizona,”

Conor Friedersdorf’s “Immigration Policy Gone

Loco” (pgs. 579-588)

Be ready to discuss your assigned element (given on next slide)

Purpose & Audience

Misty, Blanche

The rational appeal

Pamela, Ryan

The emotional appeal

Ce-Ce, Kam

The ethical appeal & Ethical issues

Unique, Karen, Chad

Fallacies & Reasoning strategies

Anthony, Grace

READ THE READINGS. PREPARE TO DISCUSS

YOUR ASSIGNED ELEMENT AS IT APPLIES TO

EACH READING.