Argumentation Theories

Products from Logic

Argument products extend the concepts of formal logic, a correct form of reasoning based on the linguistic progression that moves from a certitude stated in a major premise to an assertion of conditions in the minor premise and ends with a claim solely derived from both premises. Informal logic emphasizes everyday reasoning in which people make inferences, draw conclusions, and reason from one set of options to another in order to resolve disagreements or solve public problems. A long tradition of pedagogy based on informal logic theorized about argument products as different types of evidence, reasoning, and methods for creating and evaluating arguments. [Page 41]Evidence, the primary feature of argument products, consists of one or more grounds that arguers put forth as the basis for believing their claims. Naming and identifying adequate evidence is a common approach for teaching argumentation theory. Evidence consists of definitions, testimony, examples, personal experiences, history, and statistics located in complicated chains of reasoning found in speeches, essays, literary works, proposals, and other discourses. Pedagogical approaches to argumentation establish explicit norms and standards for evaluating a particular type of evidence. For example, a norm for assessing the quality of statistical evidence depends on the extent to which numerical measures derive from reliable and valid methods that are up-to-date and generalizable to populations other than those from which the statistical evidence originated.

Of equal importance are the types of logical connections that supply the implicative structure in arguments, including signs, examples, cause-effect, analogy, authority, and definition. Argumentation pedagogy explicates the different types of reasoning and the relevant implicative structure that links evidence to claims. If an argument fails to meet these standards, a fallacy may result. Fallacies are errors in reasoning that deceive an audience by seeming to prove a claim based on a faulty inference. A cause-effect argument, for example, should establish a relationship between two events so that the first brings about the second; that is, the high price of oil is the cause of inflation. A type of fallacy, false cause (post hoc), results when two events or actions occur at the same time and the arguer infers that one event is the cause of the other without considering other possible causes. Errant logical connections lead to a variety of other fallacies resulting from appeals to authority, pity, fear, the majority, or tradition. Because fallacies are both common and interesting, teachers often engage students in diagnosing the errors in argument products and explaining how flawed arguments can be avoided.

...