- Claim: the position or claim being argued for; the conclusion of the argument.
- Grounds: reasons or supporting evidence that bolster the claim.
- Warrant: the principle, provision or chain of reasoning that connects the grounds/reason to believe the claim.
- Backing: support, justification, reasons to back up the warrant.
- Rebuttal/Reservation: exceptions to the claim; description and rebuttal of counter-examples and counter-arguments.
- Qualification: specification of limits to claim, warrant and backing. The degree of conditionality asserted.
The unstated warrant is: “by lifting state controls on alcohol sales you eliminate the need to travel to drink.”
The claim usually is the first part of the argument, the proposition or the resolution.
Be careful not to reduce a claim to an assertion. Whereas claims are supported by warrants, assertions are based on opinion. Opinions are based on belief systems, frames of reference. Successful claims (the winning arguments) are the ones with the most solid reasoning and valid evidence.
Rhetoric
One third of the Trivium, the other two being grammar and logic, rhetoric is the art of using language as a means to persuade.
Persuasion is the motivational or ideological impetus in changing thought, the very vehicle by which an argument is achieved.
Aristotle taught that in order to truly move an audience, your rhetoric had to involve appeals, methods of connecting intellectually (logos), emotionally (pathos), and credibly (ethos).
Rhetoric is a tool, an instrumental communication devised to the end of reaching social change.
So persuasion is an attempt to convince (cognitive effect) and motivate (affective and psychomotor) and rhetoric is adapting persuasive messages to all the contexts of delivery.
Critical Thinking
The reason you're here, the skill you must develop and hone, the asset you will use to be successful - thinking for your self, searching out your own truth with the open-mindedness to see if it makes sense, if it endures your crisis of faith, and if it does not, why not!
The critical thinker
- considers the sources,
- identifies assumptions,
- judges the quality of the argument,
- develops and defends a position on an issue,
- asks questions,
- experiments and designs,
- defines meaning in terms appropriate for the context,
- is open-minded,
- well informed,
- concludes with care and time,
- is impeccable with their word,
- never assumes,
- doesn't take anything personally,
- and always does their best.
Sounds dangerous.
Critical thinking...
- identifies presumption, assumptions without proof,
- applies sound logic to problem solving, avoiding fallacies,
- structures arguments,
- understands the meaning in quotidian arguments,
- builds issue-oriented syntax,
- develops and manages attitudes for fair, nonjudgmental engagement.
And what are those Attitudes?
Pre-critical (prejudice) that does not allow us to hear new information. In order to hear new ideas different from our own we need to adjust our ability to listen to them.
Primary certitude is the answer that people have for certain "concrete" issues (abortion, gay marriage, the right to bear arms) and they have no tolerance for any other view of that issue.
Open-mindedness is your willingness to listen to ideas you may not agree with while maintaining your spine.
Closed-mindedness leads to oversimplification which leads to polarizing issues, either/or fallacious thinking.
Tolerance of ambiguity suspends judgment when we're faced with conflicting ideas until we have more information/evidence to reach a conclusion.
Reaction formation is an affective consequence to an idea that offends our own certitude.
Defensiveness occurs when our own views or certitude is challenged, the trick is to remember that we are not our arguments and that it is not a personal attack if someone disagrees with our own convictions.
Argumentation v. Aggression
Argumentative people are open-minded, assertive and ready to engage in dialog.
Aggressive people argue against the person (ad hominem) instead of the idea.
Aggressive people use aggressive paralinguistics and nonverbal behaviors, some even resort to violence.
Argumentative people know how to critically respond:
- thesis (your standpoint)
- antithesis (listen to their standpoint)
- synthesis (see what overlaps)
Cultural Conditioning - the eight hundred pound gorilla
Our bags come packed. We are all culturally conditioned by the way we're raised to see the world by the culture we live in - family, school, church, neighborhood, the times.
Strong content cultures engage in force of repetition, where we get the same messages and values over and over, and because we're so saturated with it, we don't question it.
Two behavioral tendencies grow out of cultural conditioning:
- Hidden presumptions - Beliefs that are so ingrained as fact that we do not believe they need to proven at all. Sometimes what is so obvious keeps us from seeing the truth, like relationships for example.
- Ethnocentrism - The belief that our way of life or our culture is better (truer) than all others, the very conditioning from which stemmed the justification for the suicide bombing that happened this morning.
To justify ourselves we often use terms of extreme or absolutes such as always or never, or draw stereotypes that "everyone is like that," when we really don't know that to be the case.
This exaggeration and stereotyping leads to sweeping generalities and racial slurs.
Urban legends are also an example of exaggeration and yet rarely are they ever exposed. Still have your kidneys?
Euphemisms are another underhanded way to be aggressive, bless your heart, you vertically challenged, hygienically deficient, intellectually underfunded BYU coed. (Sorry. Are my biases seeping through?)
Propaganda
Its etymological roots grew in Catholicism when it was recruiting new members, propaganda, thanks to Hitler, Kin Jong Il and Bill O'Reilly now has a very negative connotation of an extreme persuasive practice that uses language and image to manipulate public opinion.
Propaganda uses glittering generalities, what Kenneth Burke calls "God terms" and jingoisms - cute little ethnocentric catch phrases that stick, are easy to remember and say, and oversimplify complicated issues. America, love it or leave it. Leave Free or Die.
Disinformation is another tactic using false information or rumors to convince people to see your standpoint. (Weapons of mass destruction in Iraq as justification to go to war, Saddam Hussein and Al Qaeda, torturing detainees at Guantanamo...)
Demonization is the last tactic, reducing the other side to stereotypes and negative images.
Ethics
What are the motivations inherently in our arguments? Impeccable or guileful?
What is the veracity of our evidence and sources? Original or plagiarized?
Ethics in rhetoric and persuasion:
- Each party has an equal voice
- All claims should be backed
- Paraphrase feedback as closely as possible
- Be relevant in defending claims
- Don't misinform or use false claims
- Avoid ambiguity
- Admit lack of evidence is applicable
- Stick to the point of argumentation
