Argumentation: Types of Reasoning
Basic approaches include (see chapter three from A Little Argument, available in Dropbox):
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Evidence: Scientific, Dialectical, Rhetorical, and False Forms of Reasoning
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Each kind of reasoning relies on different kinds of evidence the audience values:
Note: An enthymeme is a form of reasoning where the audience supplies a portion of the argument. This unspoken portion of the argument is often a belief rooted within a communal value that "goes without saying." For instance, during the 2008 presidential election, when Sarah Palin expressed admiration for the real America, she employed an enthymeme:
The unspoken part of the argument the audience supplies may go something like this: "We are the best part of America, and those who live in more liberal locations--cities--represent the worst parts of America." In this case, the effect may be to strengthen this audience's resolve for the Republican ticket, but it also upset many others, including John Stewart.
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Rhetorical ReasoningRhetorical reasoning is always exercised when the rhetor and audience are caught in a completely uncertain situation, where no rubric can guide one's judgments. Consequently, the rhetor and audience must resort to what is likely, or probable. There are patterns of everyday ways of arguing that take advantage of the call to argue for what is probable, and in classical rhetorical theory, this is called "topical reasoning," or reasoning using the topics.
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There are several variations of rhetorical reasoning:
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Articulation, Reconfiguration, and Cross-appropriation
The following are related argumentative strategies that rhetors use to transform the social situation they operate within:
Once again, there are multitudes of variations of these "topics." As you practice distinguishing these forms of argument going on in various texts, work to see how you also practice these arguments in your own writing.
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Another common argument is to value what happened in the past over what is going on in the present (a conservative controlling value); which then might contrast with valuing what new things may come after we leave the past behind (a progressive controlling value).
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