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CHAPTER 1: DEFINING ARGUMENTATION This chapter introduces students to the key concepts in argumentation. It is important that students get a clear idea of what it means to seek the adherence of relevant decision makers. It is also important that […]

CHAPTER 10: REFUTATION Learning to refute is difficult for many students. It is the essence of that commonly praised but complicated attribute called “thinking on your feet.” The project on p. 173 is a good activity for inexperienced students. It […]

CHAPTER 11: REFUTATION BY FALLACY CLAIM This chapter puts the idea of fallacy into a context that distinguishes it from the usual treatment that lists what appear to be mistakes that anyone should recognize and acknowledge to be a mistake. […]

CHAPTER 12: ANALYSIS AND CASE BUILDING IN LAW Chapter 12 provides an application of analysis and case building to the sphere of law. It takes the student through a particular case at the trial and appellate level. That case can […]

CHAPTER 13: ARGUMENTATION IN SCIENCE The chapter on argument and evidence in science is intended to strengthen the students’ understanding of these two subjects. While science is a specialized sphere of argumentation many of its standards are held to in […]

CHAPTER 14: ARGUMENTATION IN RELIGION Chapter 14 can be a difficult one to teach. Some students are quite interested in religion and others are not. Frequently, their interest is clouded by strong feelings one way or another. You need to […]

CHAPTER 15: ARGUMENTATION IN BUSINESS Most students in your class have had some association with business, either through their own job experience or through parents and relatives. Therefore, they can probably understand this application chapter better than the first three. […]

CHAPTER 16: ARGUMENTATION IN GOVERNMENT AND POLITICS In this chapter argumentation is applied to three major phases of the sphere of political argumentation. This chapter can be used to illustrate forms of support in argumentation, the use of refutation, and […]

CHAPTER 2: APPRAISING ARGUMENTATION Once students have learned the key terms they are ready to look more carefully at the personal and social ways that arguments are critically appraised. Chapter 2 investigates these. The chapter takes a good deal of […]

CHAPTER 3: MAKING SENSE IN ARGUMENTATION Chapter 3 introduces some of the critical approaches people use to understand argumentative situations. This is difficult material to teach, because it asks students to think critically about assumptions they have taken for granted […]

CHAPTER 4: THE NATURE OF ARGUMENTS You will probably want to spend more time on chapter 4 than on any other chapter. Here the students will be learning the parts of an argument, to differentiate one kind of argument from […]

CHAPTER 5: ANALYSIS IN ARGUMENTATION The first four chapters of Argumentation and the Critical Decision Making Process provide the students an understanding of argumentation in an audience-oriented approach. Chapters 1 and 2 introduce the students to a basic vocabulary of […]

CHAPTER 6: CASE BUILDING Case building is a crucial part of learning about argumentation. Students need to see that a collection of well-supported arguments is not enough. An important part of argumentative analysis is developing an overall plan to make […]

CHAPTER 7: SUPPORT: EVIDENCE The next three chapters deal with the three kinds of support provided for most arguments: evidence, values, and credibility. Evidence requires the most attention. It is not more important than values or credibility in securing adherence, […]

CHAPTER 8: SUPPORT: VALUES Students will have little difficulty in finding values in an argument. Indeed, they sometimes find too many. Because values serve as warrants and are frequently unstated, an imaginative student can insert virtually any value. Teaching this […]

CHAPTER 9: SUPPORT: CREDIBILITY Evidence is probably the most difficult form of support for students to understand. Credibility is probably the easiest. The idea that we adhere to someone’s views because we find that person trustworthy and competent seems obvious. […]

CHAPTER 1 Defining Argumentation 13 disagreement; various mental parts are constantly insisting that the other parts are wrong. Certainty imposes consensus on the inner cacophony. It lets you pretend that your entire brain 467–478). The Future Is Inherently Uncertain. The […]

Defining Argumentation 1 1 CHAPTER KEY TERMS adherence, p. 2 decision makers, p. 2 ultimate purpose, p. 2 claim, p. 3 subclaim, p. 3 factual claim, p. 3 value claim, p. 4 policy claim, p. 4 issue, p. 5 proposition, […]

156 10 Refutation CHAPTER KEY TERMS faction, p. 156 processes, p. 157 cooperative, p. 157 framework, p. 159 assessment, p. 159 critical decision making, p. 160 decision makers, p. 163 goals, p. 163 presumption, p. 164 burden of proof, p. […]

CHAPTER Refutation by Fallacy Claims 11 fallacy claim, p. 174 incorrect logic, p. 176 sophistry, p. 177 tu quoque , p. 177 begging the question, p 177 authority, p. 178 popularity, p. 178 post hoc , p. 179 ad hominem […]

188 12 CHAPTER Argumentation in Law KEY TERMS narratives, p. 189 burden of proof, p. 190 preponderance of evidence, p. 190 equipoise, p. 191 prima facie case, p. 191 commonplaces, p. 196 analogy, p. 198 logic, p. 199 consistency, p. […]

13 CHAPTER Argumentation in Science KEY TERMS science, p. 204 hypotheses, p. 206 theory, p. 206 scientific law, p. 206 natural order, p. 207 claims of fact, p. 207 peer review, p. 209 empirical, p. 209 replicate, p. 209 hypothetico-deductive […]

222 Argumentation in Religion 14 CHAPTER KEY TERMS God, p. 223 revealed theology, p. 224 natural theology, p. 224 human beings, p. 225 moral behavior, p. 226 evil, p. 226 sin, p. 226 suffering, p. 227 salvation, p. 227 church, […]

15 CHAPTER Argumentation in Business KEY TERMS basic beliefs, p. 243 respect the individual, p. 243 best customer service, p. 243 drive for superiority, p. 243 success, p. 243 burden of proof, p. 244 booms and busts, p. 246 change, […]

16 Argumentation in Government and Politics CHAPTER KEY TERMS public sphere, p. 258 public screen, p. 258 political claims, p. 259 committee hearings, p. 262 good story, p. 265 majoritarianism, p. 266 amendment process, p. 267 credibility function, p. 267 […]

CHAPTER 16 Argumentation in Government and Politics 269 such as Citigroup. The required five-year freeze represented a compromise between bank- ing regulators, who argued for seven years, and mortgage firms, who argued for either one or two years. Of course, […]

25 2 Appraising Argumentation CHAPTER KEY TERMS criteria, p. 25 critical decision, p. 26 reasonable, p. 26 belief system, p. 27 worldviews, p. 28 starting points, p. 32 interpretation strategies, p. 32 facts, p. 33 presumption, p. 33 probabilities, p. […]

37 3 Making Sense of Argumentation CHAPTER KEY TERMS good reasons, p. 37 good story, p. 38 science, p. 38 feminist theory, p. 38 alternative dispute resolution (ADR), p. 38 narrative, p. 40 feminist argumentation, p. 42 patriarchal reasoning, p. […]

52 The Nature of Arguments 4 CHAPTER KEY TERMS claim, p. 53 grounds, p. 53 warrant, p. 54 backing, p. 54 qualifier, p. 55 force, p. 55 rebuttal, p. 55 reservation, p. 55 reasoning processes, p. 56 logic, p. 57 […]

71 5 Analysis in Argumentation CHAPTER KEY TERMS discover the proposition, p. 72 question, p. 73 identify the question, p. 73 objectives and values p. 73 costs and risks, p. 74 determining issues, p. 75 uncontroversial matter, p. 75 clarity, […]

83 6 Case Building— Presentation Planning CHAPTER KEY TERMS case, p. 83 ultimate purpose, p. 84 proposition, p. 84 presumption, p. 86 status quo, p. 86 burden of proof, p. 87 burden of rejoinder, p. 87 prima facie case, p. […]

102 Support: Evidence KEY TERMS evidence, p. 103 example, p. 103 hypothetical example, p. 105 statistics, p. 105 raw numbers, p. 105 central tendency, p. 106 probability, p. 106 trend, p. 107 testimony of fact, p. 108 testimony of opinion, […]

CHAPTER 8 Support: Values 131 applied to a specific belief (14–16). These four options all have to do with shifts in the hierarchy, in application, or in the meaning of a value. None involve the almost impossi- ble act of […]

120 Support: Values KEY TERMS stated values, p. 121 implied values, p. 121 positive values, p. 122 negative values, p. 122 terminal values, p. 122 instrumental values, p. 122 abstract values, p. 124 concrete values, p. 124 value systems, p. […]

141 9 Support: Credibility CHAPTER KEY TERMS ethos , p. 142 credibility, p. 142 competence, p. 142 trustworthy, p. 143 good will, p. 143 dynamism, p. 143 homophily, p. 142 direct credibility, p. 144 secondary credibility, p. 145 indirect credibility, […]