Argument Unit

AP Language and Composition

Deductive Reasoning General

Particular

Inductive ReasoningParticulars

Generalities

Transaction between Writer and Reader

Be sure to understand your readers’ views!

Begin by stating what your readers probably

think.

(This helps to hide your cynical side. Omit the following: “By Heaven, my view is absolutely right!”)

Thesis StatementYour opinion is the thesis, or claim, of your argument. With inductive reasoning, your thesis statement will be at the beginning (clueing them in to your purpose).Deductive reasoning is necessary if the reader has difficulty accepting your thesis until they have heard some of your argument.

Logos- evidence/factsevidence/facts

Pathos- emotionsemotions

Ethos-ethical/characterethical/character

Persuasive AppealsPersuasive Appeals

SyllogismSyllogismThe format of a formal argument that consists of a major premise, a minor premise, and a conclusion.

Toulmin Method

British Philosopher, Stephen Toulmin, devised this practical method for dividing an argument into three parts.

Data: The evidence to prove something.

Claim: What are you proving with the data?

Conclusion: The assumption or principle that connects the data to the claim.

Data Example: All human beings are immortal.

Minor Claim: Socrates is a man.

Conclusion: Therefore, Socrates is immortal.

Logical Fallacies-Logical Fallacies-a mistake in reasoninga mistake in reasoning

Non sequiturNon sequitur

Stating a conclusion that doesn’t follow from the first premise.

Example: “I’ve lived in this town a long time—why my grandfather was the first mayor—so I’m against adding fluoride to the drinking water.”

OversimplificationSupplying neat and easy explanations for large and complicated phenomena.

Example: “No wonder drug abuse is out of control. Look at how the courts have hobbled police officers.”“All these bad teenagers should be shipped to China.”

Hasty Generalization

Leaping to a generalization from inadequate or faulty evidence.

Example: “Women are too emotional to fight in combat.”

Dogmatism (Dogmatic)A writer who attempts to persuade by asserting or assuming that a particular position is the only one conceivably acceptable. Example: No rationale person would disagree that …

It is clear to anyone who has thought about it that…

False AuthorityIt occurs chiefly when writers offer themselves, or other authorities they cite, as sufficient warrant for believing a claim.

Example: “We ought to castrate all sex offenders; Uncle Oswald says we should.”

or “According to reliable sources, my opponent is lying.”

Ad hominemAttack against the man

Example: “Mayor Burns is divorced and estranged from his family. How can we listen to his pleas for a city nursing home?”

Begging the Question

Taking for granted from the start what you set out to demonstrate.(You repeat that what is true is true.)

Example: “I am in college because that is the right thing to do. Going to college is the right thing to do because it is expected of me.”

Strawman Argument-The speaker/writer attributes false or exaggerated The speaker/writer attributes false or exaggerated characteristics to the opponent and attacks him on characteristics to the opponent and attacks him on those falsehoods.those falsehoods.

Example: You say you are for allowing only people over twenty-one to vote. I’ll never understand mean, simple-minded activists like you who are willing to deny democratic freedoms to millions of citizens.

Bandwagon FallacyBandwagon Fallacy

Arguments that urge people to follow the same path everyone else is taking.

V: Terry Shivo, Drunk Driving, Illegal Immigration

Example: Everyone else is going camping without chaperones. The parent replies, “If everyone jumps off the bridge tomorrow, will you jump off one too?”