Herrick Argumentation and Advocacy Midterm
middle term
The term that appears in both premises, but not in the conclusion.
argument
a claim advanced with a reason or reasons in its support
particular affirmative statement (PA)
a claim that attributes a specified quality to only some members of a category
universal negative statement (UN)
a claim that denies a specified quality to every member of a category
particular negative statement (PN)
a claim that denies that some members of a category possess a specified quality
conclusion
a claim that has been reached by a process of reasoning
inference
a conclusion drawn on the basis of reasons
intermediate conclusion
a conclusion that is then used as a reason
sufficient condition
a condition that will bring about another event
necessary condition
a condition without which another event cannot occur
rebuttal
a counter-argument, a reasoned answer that addresses specific points made or evidence advanced in the original argument
dilemma
a disjunctive argument that forces a choice between limited and undesireable options
repudiation
a dismissal of an argument without serious consideration
fallacy of hasty generalization
a generalization based on a sample that is too small to support it
term
a noun or noun phrase that represents a category in a categorical statement
inductive leap
a process in which the conclusion of an argument moves beyond its stated evidence
property
a quality projected from the sample to the population
evidence
a reason rooted in observation
lay testimony
a report of personal observation, experience, or opinion on a topic not requiring special expertise
random sample
a sample in which every element in the population has an equal chance of being selected
stratified sample
a sample that adequately reflects the various groups that introduce variation within the population
case
a series of arguments, all advanced to support the same general contention or set of conclusions
pluralistic culture
a society composed of groups who see the world from different perspectives, value different activities, hold disparate religious beliefs, and aspire to different goals
validity
a solid internal structure that allows for reasonable connections between evidence and conclusions in an argument
reason
a statement advanced for the purpose of establishing a claim
convertible statement
a statement in which the subject and predicate terms of a statement are distributed similarly
reservation
a statement that acknowledges the existence of an argument, evidence, or an attitude opposing the conclusion being advanced
categorical statement
a statement that establishes a relationship between two categories, or classes, of objects
claim
a statement the advocate believes or is in the process of evaluating
distributed term (D)
a term that, in a statement, refers to every member of the category it represents
straw man argument
a weak interpretation of someone else's argument in order to make it easier to refute
representative
accurately reflects the presence of the quality in the entire population
consideration
an agreement to think about the argument further, to withhold any final judgement about its quality for the time being
conditional argument
an argument built around an "if-then" statement or an equivalent
slippery slope argument
an argument from direction urging that the first step in a progression not be taken
disjunctive argument
an argument that presents limited options: two enumerated alternatives, or disjuncts, often marked by an "either/or" statement
enumeration argument
an argument that sets out alternative explanations or options and then follows a process of elimination
argument from direction
an argument that strings together two or more conditional statements to predict a remote result from a first step
valid argument
an argument whose structure connects its reasons to its conclusions in a reliable manner
statement
any phrase or sentence that supplies a portion of the argument's content or meaning
deductive arguments
arguments that lead to necessary conclusions when their reasons are true
inductive arguments
arguments whose reasons lead to probable conclusions
values
deeply held moral commitments acquired from family, cultural background, religious training, and personal experience
false dilemma
dilemma argument that uses artificially limited options to mislead an audience
scanning
identifying and marking the statements in an argument
diagramming
mapping the argument, using only the letters assigned during scanning, and drawing lines from reasons to the conclusion they support
complementary reasons
pairs of reasons that must work together to lend support to their conclusion
testimony
personal report of direct experience, expression of personal opinion, or judgement based on expert knowledge
human nature perspectives
perspectives that develop around one or more essential qualities of human nature
dialogic perspectives
perspectives that identify ethical considerations or principles inherent to each unique communication setting
political perspectives
perspectives that rely on the essential values of a political system for their criteria of ethical assessment
conditional statement
the if-then statement in a conditional argument
finding
what was discovered about members of the sample
cues
words or phrases that signal something, other than a reason or a conclusion, about the content of an argument
support
the strength and accuracy of the argument's evidence
categorical argument
"categorical statement"; an argument composed of three categorical statement - two statements that are its reasons, or premises, and one that is its conclusion
biased testimony
"interested testimony" testimony from individuals who stand to gain if what they say is accepted
refutation
A thoroughly successful response to an argument, one that clearly demonstrates a damaging flaw to the satisfaction of a relatively objective listener or reader.
population
group or class to which the generalization is meant to apply
connectives
reasons that consist of beliefs, values, assumptions, or generalizations that link evidence to a conclusion
sampling
selecting and observing members of a group or population who are taken to be representative of the rest of the group
proposition of value
statements that advance judgements about morality, beauty, merit, or wisdom
proposition of fact
statements that report, describe, predict, or make causal claims
proposition of policy
statements that urge that an action be taken or discontinued
unbiased testimony
testimony from individuals who will neither gain nor lose if their testimony is accepted as true
reluctant testimony
testimony from sources who will lose something as a result of their testimony
concurrent testimony
testimony that is consistent with other available sources of testimony on the topic
antecedent
the "if" clause in a conditional statement
consequent
the "then" clause in a conditional statement
acceptance
the agreement to accept the argument as presented; that is, to find it persuasive, or at least lacking in any major flaw
rule of reason
the agreement to engage in the cooperative process of argumentation rather than to resolve disagreement by other means
linguistic consistency
the clarity of its language and its use of terms in the same way throughout the argument
argumentation
the cooperative activity of developing and advancing arguments and of responding to the arguments of others
median
the figure that exactly divides the top half from the bottom half in a range of figures
subject term
the first term in a categorical statement, the subject or principal focus of the argument
expert testimony
the judgement or opinion of a qualified specialist in a discipline about matters relevant to that discipline
sample
the members of a group actually observed or consulted
mode
the most frequently occurring observation or response in a sample
absolute sample size
the number of members in the sample
conversion
the process of switching a statement's subject and predicate terms in order to create an equivalent statement
premises
the reasons in conditional arguments, as well as in the enumerative and categorical arguments
structure of inferences
the relationships among the reasons and the conclusions in an argument
predicate term
the second term in a categorical statement, the term that attributes or denies a quality to the members of the category represented in the subject term
relative sample size
the size of a sample relative to the total number of members in the population
criteria of evaluation
the standards on which a value judgement is based
mean
the sum of a set of figures divided by the number of figures in the set; arithmetical average
end terms
the two terms that appear once in a reason and once in the conclusion of a categorical argument
pluralism
the variety of moral and ethical perspectives present in contemporary societies
argument virtues
those moral qualities and skills that help people think and act morally in an argumentative situation, and thus pursue argumentation in a manner that promotes and improves its practice
enthymemes
truncated, or abbreviated, categorical arguments, missing one or more of the basic components, such as a reason or a conclusion
exclusive disjuncts
two alternatives that cannot both be true at the same time
inclusive disjuncts
two alternatives that might both be true at the same time