Standardizing Arguments

1
Standardizing Arguments

• Premise 1 New Mexico offers many outdoor
  activities.
• Premise 2 New Mexico has rich history of Native
  Americans and of Spanish conquest
• Premise 3 New Mexico is inexpensive.
• _______________________________
• Conclusion New Mexico is an excellent vacation
  choice.

2
Standardizing Arguments

• Claim New Mexico is an excellent vacation
  choice.
• ______________________________________
• Support/Evidence 1 New Mexico offers many
  outdoor activities.
• Support/Evidence 2 New Mexico has rich history
  of Native Americans and Spanish conquest
• Support/Evidence 3 New Mexico is inexpensive.

3
Standardizing Arguments with the Toulmin Model

• Premises(Grounds)???Conclusion (Claim)
• REASONING (WARRANT)
• G ? So C Since W
• Harry was born in the U.S. (Grounds)
• ? So Harry is a U.S. citizen (Claim)
• Since A person born in the U.S. is legally a U.S.
  citizen (Warrant) 

4
Toulmin Model, cont.

• (G) Harry was born in the U.S.
• ?So
• (Q) presumably,
• (C) Harry is a U.S. citizen
• (R) unless he did not claim the U.S. citizenship
• Since
• (W) A person born in the U.S. is legally a U.S.
  citizen
• On account of (B) U.S. immigration law

5
Main Types of Reasoning

• INDUCTIVE forming generalizations from specific
  instances
• DEDUCTIVE reasoning from principles (known
  facts)
• CAUSAL reasoning
• PARALLEL CASE

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Inductive Reasoning

• Reasoning that moves from particular facts to a
  general conclusion.

7
Guidelines for Inductive Reasoning

• Are there enough specific instances?
• Are the specific instances typical?
• Are the instances recent / relevant?

8
Deductive Reasoning

• Reasoning that moves from a general principle to
  a specific conclusion.
• The conclusion of deductive reasoning is certain
  rather than probable.

9
Syllogisms

• Major Premise All humans are mortal
• Minor Premise Socrates is a human
• Therefore
• Conclusion Socrates is mortal

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Guidelines for Deductive Reasoning

• Make sure listeners will accept your general
  principle (major premise)
• Provide evidence to support your minor premise

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Causal Reasoning

• Reasoning that seeks to establish causal
  relationship between two phenomena / events.
• A causes B

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Guidelines for Causal Reasoning

• Avoid the fallacy of false cause
• Do not assume that events have only a single cause

13
Parallel cases Reasoning

• Reasoning in which a speaker compares two
  similar cases and infers that what is true for
  the first case is also true for the second.

14
Guidelines for Parallel Cases Reasoning

• Above all, make sure the two cases being
  compared are essentially alike

15
Fallacy

• An error in reasoning.

16
Fallacies

• Hasty generalization
• Causal Fallacies (False cause)
• Bandwagon Fallacy
• Ad Hominem
• Either / Or Fallacy
• Invalid analogy
• Appeals to Misplaced Authority, Ignorance,
  Emotion, Tradition

17
Hasty Generalization

• A fallacy in which a speaker jumps to a general
  conclusion on the basis of insufficient evidence.

18
False Cause

• A fallacy in which a speaker mistakenly assumes
  that because one event follows another, the first
  event is the cause of the second.

19
Invalid Analogy

• An analogy in which the two cases being compared
  are not essentially alike.

20
Red Herring

• A fallacy that introduces an irrelevant issue to
  divert attention from the subject under
  discussion.

21
Red Herring

• Why should we worry about the amount of violence
  on television when thousands of people are killed
  in automobile accidents each year?

22
Ad Hominem

• A fallacy that attacks the person rather than
  dealing with the real issue in dispute.

23
Ad Hominem

• The governor has a number of interesting
  economic proposals, but lets not forget that she
  comes from a very wealthy family.

24
Either-Or

• A fallacy that forces listeners to choose between
  two alternatives when more than two alternatives
  exist.

25
Either-Or

• The government must either raise taxes or
  reduce services for the poor.

26
Bandwagon

• A fallacy that assumes that because something is
  popular, it is therefore good, correct, or
  desirable.

27
Bandwagon

• The President must be correct in his approach
  to domestic policy after all, polls show that 60
  percent of the people support him.

28
Slippery Slope

• A fallacy that assumes that taking a first step
  will lead to subsequent steps that cannot be
  prevented.

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Slippery Slope

• Passing federal laws to control the amount of
  violence on television is the first step in a
  process that will result in absolute government
  control of the media and total censorship over
  all forms of artistic expression.