COMM 1117 Lecture Notes - Lecture 2: Stephen Toulmin
2 May 2018
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Department
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Professor
Levels of Argumentation (hierarchy) (claims on bottom)
• Claims
o Ex. Heather states the claim that incarceration is so high in America because we have a
lot of violent crime comparted to other countries
• Issues
o Ex. What is the primary or most important reason for or cause of mass incarceration?
o Heather- violet people
o Russell- ioral activities ade illegal
• Proposition
o Ex. Some things should be done to reduce the number of people incarcerated in US
prison
What is a propositional analysis?
▪ Examination of an argumentative situation for its claims and opposing claims to discover the issue
and what arguments and support (evidence, values, and credibility) are most important
▪ Issues relations to mass incarceration
• Heather- does or does not mass incarceration reduce the number of violent crimes on the
streets and in buildings?
• Thaddeus- does or does not mass incarceration express an acceptable more judgement
again certain illegal activities that should be illegal?
• Alexander- does or does not mass incarceration exclude people from society on the basis of
color or wealth?
Step 4 in analysis: clarifying what each claim asserts and locating points of disagreement (the Toulmin
model of argument structure
• Construction argument diagrams similar to diagramming a sentence
****Elements of Critical Decision Making
Critical decision: survives the test of relevant set of criteria (standards, rule, algorithms or test on which
a decision can be made)
Via which criteria do you make decisions?
o Toleration of Uncertainty- the understanding that you will never have the complete truth/ you
will never know the future or what will happen- but you have to make decisions anyway even
know you will never know the outcome
o Ex. What is going to happen if you let out a bunch of prisoners out?
o Internal Dialogue- Arguments happen in your head; you are arguing with yourself or imagined
audience
o Dialectic- external dialog; how we come to agreement using rationality; come to some version
of the truth via dialog
o Spheres- arguments happen in different setting with different audiences
o Medical sphere- did this doctor mess up?
o Personal sphere- where to go to eat?
o Law sphere- did this person commit this crime?
o Rhetoric- persuasion; terms of audience; logos, pathos, ethos
o Willingness to Act- younger people are more likely to act and change; 80-year-old grandma, not
likely to act
find more resources at oneclass.com
find more resources at oneclass.com
Document Summary
Levels of argumentation (hierarchy) (claims on bottom: claims, ex. Heather states the claim that incarceration is so high in america because we have a lot of violent crime comparted to other countries. What is the primary or most important reason for or cause of mass incarceration: heather- (cid:862)viole(cid:374)t people(cid:863, russell- (cid:862)i(cid:373)(cid:373)oral activities (cid:373)ade illegal(cid:863, proposition, ex. Some things should be done to reduce the number of people incarcerated in us prison. What is a propositional analysis: examination of an argumentative situation for its claims and opposing claims to discover the issue and what arguments and support (evidence, values, and credibility) are most important. Step 4 in analysis: clarifying what each claim asserts and locating points of disagreement (the toulmin model of argument structure: construction argument diagrams similar to diagramming a sentence. Critical decision: survives the test of relevant set of criteria (standards, rule, algorithms or test on which a decision can be made)
