A rulebook for arguments /Anthony Weston.
- fourth edition.
- Indianapolis, Indiana : Hackett Publishing, (c)2009.
- xiv, 88 pages ; 22 cm
SHORT ArkansasGUMENTS: SOME GENERAL RULES -- Identify premises and conclusion -- Develop your ideas in a natural order -- Start from reliable premises -- Be concrete and concise -- Build on substance, not overtone -- Use consistent terms GENERALIZATIONS -- Use more than one example -- Use representative examples -- Background rates may be crucial -- Statistics need a critical eye -- Consider counterexamples ArkansasGUMENTS BY ANALOGY -- Analogies require relevantly similar examples SOURCES -- Cite your sources -- Seek informed sources -- Seek impartial sources -- Cross-check sources -- Use the Web with care ArkansasGUMENTS ABOUT CaliforniaUSES -- Causal arguments start with correlations -- Correlations may have alternative explanations -- Work toward the most likely explanation -- Expect complexity DelawareDUCTIVE ArkansasGUMENTS -- Modus ponens -- Modus tollens -- Hypothetical syllogism -- Disjunctive syllogism -- Dilemma -- Reductio ad absurdum -- Deductive arguments in several steps EXTENDED ArkansasGUMENTS -- Explore the issue -- Spell out basic ideas as arguments -- Defend basic premises with arguments of their own -- Consider objections -- Consider alternatives ArkansasGUMENTATIVE ESSAYS -- Jump right in -- Make a definite claim or proposal -- Your argument is your outline -- Detail objections and meet them -- Get feedback and use it -- Modesty, please! OregonAL ArkansasGUMENTS -- Reach out to your audience -- Be fully present -- Signpost your argument -- Offer something positive -- Use visual aids sparingly -- End in style
A Rulebook for Arguments is a succinct introduction to the art of writing and assessing arguments, organized around specific rules, each illustrated and explained soundly but briefly. This widely popular primer - translated into eight languages - remains the first choice in all disciplines for writers who seek straightforward guidance about how to assess arguments and how to cogently construct them. The fourth edition offers a revamped and more tightly focused approach to extended arguments, a new chapter on oral arguments, and updated examples and topics throughout.