CHAPTER 1: DEFINING ARGUMENTATION

1 Instructor Manual with Test Bank for Argumentation and Critical Decision Making 8 th Edition R ichard D. Rieke, Malcolm O.Sillars, Tarla Rai Peterson Test B ank Only MCQs: Correct Answer is Marked with *. 1 / 4

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CHAPTER 1: DEFINING ARGUMENTATION

This chapter introduces students to the key concepts in argumentation. It is important that students get a clear idea of what it means to seek the adherence of relevant decision makers. It is also important that they see the types of support for claims and the greater usefulness of supported claims over assertion.They should also understand that when they argue they are making claims about uncertainty. The idea that certainty is possible, that there are true and false arguments that can be determined by simple tests is common with many of them. It is very important to make uncertainty clear without implying that anything g oes. Decision makers have standards that are defined by their sphere and long established customs. But, these standards are not absolute.In the first and second editions we included a historical treatment of this idea. We contrasted Aristotle and Plato. If you use historical material to make this point, you will probably want to assign outside reading.Post-modernist and feminist thought calls for placing more emphasis on dialectic and less on rhetoric.Regardless of your point of view, it is important to help students understand the difference between dialectic and rhetoric at this early stage.The detailed analysis of an argument (shown by a variation of the Toulmin model) is introduced in chapter 4.In previous editions, the nature of arguments and the Toulmin layout of arguments were not introduced until the 6th chapter. Because many of our critics called for this to come earlier in the term, we have moved it to chapter 4. In this way, students will have been introduced to the major concepts of argumentation and they will have an overall sense of the process and the various ways people approach argument, and then they should be able to grasp the value of the Toulmin layout as a way to open arguments up to critical scrutiny. It is important to help students understand that the layout is only useful in making a critical appraisal of an argument, and that when they g et into the process of forming and communicating arguments, they will use qu ite different organizational structures as are detailed in chapter 6.In discussing spheres, it is useful to select a major issue such as gay/lesbian marriage, and look at arguments emerging in different spheres. For example, history, culture, religion, law, biology, and politics all produce arguments on this subject. Students should be able to see how each produces a different set of criteria with which to evaluate arguments. The concept of “ultimate purpose” is a difficult one for students to grasp, and in a discussion such as this, one can discuss the differing ultimate purposes of each of those spheres.The exercises/projects included at the end of chapter 1 in the text ask students to read editorials in n

ewspapers and then answer these questions:

What adherence is sought from the reader?Who are the appropriate decision makers? Why?What claims do es the editorial make?What support is provided for the claims What criticism can you make of the arguments?And then students are given the project of selecting a familiar topic on which they need to make a decision,

and to prepare an argument and label the parts in response to these questions:

In what kind of sphere is the decision to be made?What is the ultimate purpose of the decision? 2 / 4

32 What proposition expresses their desired decision?What issue(s) needs to be addressed?What claim directly responds (seeks to answer) the issue?How can the claim be supported argumentatively?With easy access to the Internet, we find it useful to suggest that students look for editorials in newspapers from other parts of the country than where they live. Particularly, it is useful for them to locate points of view that differ from their own. Evaluating arguments from diverse perspectives is challenging and a useful way to become sensitive to various ways of arguing.

MULTIPLE CHOICE QUESTIONS

• The intersection of a claim

and its support is called

• a syllogism.
• a topic.
• an argument.
• adherence.
• Evi

dence, values, and credibility comb ine to

• support

a claim.

• confuse the issue.
• demonstrate truth.
• reduce adherence.
• Stephen Toulm

in says the test of an argum ent is

• its abilit

y to stand up to criticism.

• its truth valu

e.

• whether people believe it.
• its validity.
• A critical decision is one that
• rests on true argu

me nts.

• can be criticized.
• survives the test of a relevant set of criteria.
• proves to be the

most effective in acti on.

• When spor

ts fans at non-BCS schools argue that their team should compete in the BCS cham pionship game, they of ten fail to consider

• the true qualities of their team.
• what a cham

pionship game really me ans.*c. who the appropriate de cision makers are.

• what m

akes for a good argum ent.

• When

you test ideas by having a conversation with yo urself, the process is called

• an internal dialogue.
• an internalized conversation.
• an imagined interaction.
• all of

the above.

• What ki

nd of claim is this: “Medical marijuana use ought to be le

galized.”

• fact. 3 / 4

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• policy.
• comparativ

e value

• value-obje

c t.

• The first level of critical thinki

ng to test possible argum ents is

• im

agined interactions.

• formal logic.
• gathering facts.
• informal logic.
• Decision making within

a context of uncertainty

• is rarely accomp

lished.

• falls with

in the domain of argum entation.

• requires the application of scientific methods.
• t

ypically yields me diocre decisions.

• “The clash of two opposing claims stat

ed as a question,” is the definition of

• a co

mparat ive-value proposition.

• an issue
• inform

al lo gic.

• Interrogation.
• Decision

making groups with recognizable goals and norms and sets of rules and resources and patterns of interaction under ongoing tension are called, in the text,

• fields.
• spheres.
• argument s

ystem s.

• interactional, co

mm unities.

ESSAY QUESTIONS

• Discuss the relationship between claims, issues, and propositions.
• Define and explain critical decision

making through argumentation.

• Discuss the inner dialog

ue and its role in argumentation. How does it relate to dialectic?

• Explain the

difference between dialectic and rh etoric, and discuss how each contributes to critical decisions.

• Explain what the text me

ans by “critical decisions,” and how they contrast with uncritical d ecisions.

EXERCISES/PROJECTS

• The editorial project at the end of the chapter in the book can be expanded by asking student

s to respond

to these questions:

• Does the writer have credibilit

y for you?

• Is the claim

in conflict with your values?

• Would t

he argument be more likely to get your adherence with better support?This kind of discussion approach needs to be carefully directed to the key terms, but if you can do th at the students will begin to see the concepts functioning in their own lives .

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