1 / 16

Introduction to Arguments

Learn the basics of arguments, including what they are and what they are not. Explore the defining features of arguments, unstated assumptions, and the combination of truth and persuasion. Discover the role arguments play in uncovering or shaping truth. This class will help you develop a new transactive epistemology.

constancem
Download Presentation

Introduction to Arguments

An Image/Link below is provided (as is) to download presentation Download Policy: Content on the Website is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use and may not be sold / licensed / shared on other websites without getting consent from its author. Content is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use only. Download presentation by click this link. While downloading, if for some reason you are not able to download a presentation, the publisher may have deleted the file from their server. During download, if you can't get a presentation, the file might be deleted by the publisher.

E N D

Presentation Transcript

  1. Introduction to Arguments Scott Hale University of Oklahoma English 1213, section .005

  2. What an Argument is Not: • It is not a fight--it is not hostile. • It is not a Pro/Con Debate--it’s not necessarily limited to only two positions.

  3. What an Argument IS: • An argument consists of: two or more conflicting assertions (claims), and an attempt to resolve this conflict through reasoning. • Explicit--Editorial, Speech, Advertisement, etc… • Implicit--Novel, Poem, Movie, etc...

  4. Defining Features of an Argument: • Arguments require justification for claims. • Example: Today is beautiful because it is sunny. • But when we provide a reason for a claim, we create an assumption...

  5. Unstated Assumptions: • All arguments depend upon an assumption, one that is usually unstated... • When we say, “Today is beautiful because it is sunny,” what is the assumption? • As the reasons for a claim change, so too will the assumption…

  6. Other Features of Arguments?

  7. Arguments are both Process and Product : • Process: A conversation in which parties seek out the best possible solution. • Product: A person’s contribution to a conversation about the best possible solution. • Dr. Martin Luther King’s “I Have a Dream.” Process or Product?

  8. Arguments Combine the Search for Truth and Persuasion: • Arguments operate along a spectrum/continuum of • Truth<--------------------->Persuasion • Questions of subject matter/truth (What is the best solution?) • Questions of audience/persuasion (What will most persuade people?)

  9. So, what’s most important...? • Winning the Argument? • Discovering Truth?

  10. Socrates and Callicles... • Socrates--sought the Truth. • Callicles--refused any assumptions. • Might makes Right, and a Truth that never wins…? • But if assumptions can’t be made, what happens to Truth?

  11. Arguments and Truth: Strange Bedfellows… • Is Truth universal, like for Socrates, or is it conditional, like for Callicles? • Regardless, realize the role that Arguments play either in discovering or creatingTruth…. • or in questioning, challenging and conqueringTruth...

  12. Plato’s Allegory of the Cave… • Slaves • Chained, Shackled, Blinders • Fire • Shadows

  13. Plato’s Cave

  14. Epistemology • Objective--The object projects meaning onto the subject • Subjective--The subject projects meaning onto the object • Transactional--The intersection and combination of the Objective and the Subjective

  15. This Class... • The creation of a new TransactiveEpistemology • Texts project meaning onto you • You project meaning onto texts • Your individualTransactiveepistemologies then combine into a collectiveTransactive epistemology…

  16. Now the top 10 reasons to join the BORG… • Bad joke...

More Related