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7/23
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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.