TheLogicalStructureofArguments.pptVIP

Power of Audience-Based Reasons Both Aristotle and Toulmin support the need to create “audience-based reasons.” Whenever you consider a piece of persuasive writing, you must couple that with the question “persuasive to whom?” A good reason to you may not be a good reason to others. Thusly, we can have two types of reasons: writer-based and audience-based. The Difference Audience: an environmentalist conference The government should build a dam on the Rapid River because the only alternative power sources are coal-fired or nuclear plants, both of which pose greater risk to the environment than a hydroelectric dam. 2. The government should build a hydroelectric dam on the Rapid River because this area needs cheap power to attract heavy industry. Another Example Gordon, a former contractor, who wishes to be exempted from his University’s algebra requirements. A Problem Gordon’s assertion that Algebra will not be useful in his chosen field flies in the face of his intended audience—a group of professors, most of whom believe and practice “liberal education.” It’s a key belief/value they all share, and walking on it will cause the argument to fail. How could he have been more persuasive? A Better Approach “I should be exempted from the algebra requirement because my experience as a contractor and inventor has already provided me with equivalent mathematical knowledge.” Drops references to algebra’s “uselessness” Honors the faculty’s values and their fear of setting a bad precedent for other students. THE LOGICAL STRUCTURE OF ARGUMENTS Finding Reason in Madness Formal Logic vs. Real World Logic Unfortunately, this is not a “logic” class of the philosophical type, where there are certainties. For example, in formal logic, “If all Ps are Qs, and if R is a P, then R is a Q.” That’s pretty defined, and very abstract. Our arguments are…messier. To wit: P=Behaviors constituting sexual harassment Q=Actions that justify dismissal from employment R=Telling off-color jokes. You p