What an Argument IS: An argument consists of: two or more conflicting assertions (claims), and an attempt to resolve this conflict through reasoning. Explicit--Editorial, Speech, Advertisement, etc… Implicit--Novel, Poem, Movie, etc...
Defining Features of an Argument: Arguments require justification for claims. Example: Today is beautiful because it is sunny. But when we provide a reason for a claim, we create an assumption...
Unstated Assumptions: All arguments depend upon an assumption, one that is usually unstated... When we say, “Today is beautiful because it is sunny,” what is the assumption? As the reasons for a claim change, so too will the assumption…
Arguments are both Process and Product : Process: A conversation in which parties seek out the best possible solution. Product: A person’s contribution to a conversation about the best possible solution. Dr. Martin Luther King’s “I Have a Dream.” Process or Product?
Arguments Combine the Search for Truth and Persuasion: Arguments operate along a spectrum/continuum of – Truth<--------------------->Persuasion Questions of subject matter/truth (What is the best solution?) Questions of audience/persuasion (What will most persuade people?)
Socrates and Callicles... Socrates--sought the Truth. Callicles--refused any assumptions. – Might makes Right, and a Truth that never wins…? But if assumptions can’t be made, what happens to Truth?
Arguments and Truth: Strange Bedfellows… Is Truth universal, like for Socrates, or is it conditional, like for Callicles? Regardless, realize the role that Arguments play either in discovering or creating Truth…. or in questioning, challenging and conquering Truth...
Epistemology Objective--The object projects meaning onto the subject Subjective--The subject projects meaning onto the object Transactional--The intersection and combination of the Objective and the Subjective
This Class... The creation of a new Transactive Epistemology Texts project meaning onto you You project meaning onto texts Your individual Transactive epistemologies then combine into a collective Transactive epistemology…
