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. While most students have little direct experience with science or the
law, most know what is valuable and credible in business.
MULTIPLE CHOICE QUESTIONS
1. Facts, presumptions, probabilities, and commonplaces constitute
2. At IBM, presumptions for most arguments were defined by
3. Because of its presumptions, at IBM, any one arguing to fire an incompetent employee
4. IBM’s failure in the PC business can be explained, at least in part, by
5. It 2008, mortgage companies became extremely conservative in making home loans even when
borrowers were highly qualified. Arguments in favor of such policies illustrate
6. Investors pushed up the value of Google and Apple higher than IBM even when IBM had greater
intrinsic value. This activity was likely based on arguments about
7. IBM spent $14.6 billion on its own shares while Google spent less than $2 billion to buy YouTube.
This argument claiming the power of IBM uses the commonplace of
8. Cingular communications bought the old, established company AT&T, and then adopted its name for
itself. This decision was likely based on arguments using the commonplace of
9. The claim that businesses should pay attention to the desires of their potential customers to, “reuse
content legally and easily for mashups, fan sites …. and create their own interactive web applications,” is
based on the commonplace
ESSAY QUESTIONS
1. Compare and contrast argumentation in law and business. Look closely at the starting points and forms
of support used in each “sphere.”
2. Discuss how the basic beliefs of IBM have functioned in their argumentation for almost 100 years.
EXERCISES/PROJECTS
1. Read a business periodical such as the Wall Street Journal or Barron’s. Write an essay on the way
2. Have a discussion within your team on how securities analysts argue, and prepare a common statement
3. Watch a TV show such as Wall Street Week that features commentators on business issues. Keep notes
4. Have a discussion within your team on each member’s conclusions from watching the business shows.
See if you can come to some general agreement on how commentators on business issues argue. Then,