Select whether the dispute is verbal, factual, or some combination of the two. If verbal, select whether the dispute arises from vagueness or ambiguity.
JERRY: In spite of the great strides technology has made in this country, poverty remains a terrible problem. Why, some people earn less than $10,000 per year. The government should do something about it. FRANKIE: I hardly think that $10,000 per year constitutes poverty. Why, in many third world countries the majority of inhabitants earn less than $1,000 per year.
Verbal (vagueness)
PENNY: In my mind, the use of marijuana should be legalized. After all, caffeine and alcohol are no less of a drug than marijuana, and it's not illegal to enjoy a glass of beer or drink a cup of coffee. SAM: Your conclusion is way off. Beer and coffee are not drugs, they're foods
Verbal (vagueness)
THOMAS: George Foreman committed those crimes of child abuse through his own free choice. Nobody put a gun to his head. Therefore, he should be punished for them. EMILIE: That's not true. It's been established that Foreman was severely abused himself when he was a child, and such children have an irresistible obsession to abuse others when they grow up.
combination of verbal (ambiguity and vagueness) and factual
KATHY: I was saddened to hear about the death of your uncle. He was such a wonderful man. You must be consoled knowing that he's enjoying his heavenly reward. ANNE: Thanks, but I'm afraid I don't know what you mean. If death is the end of life, how could my uncle be alive right now in heaven?
combination of verbal (ambiguity) and factual
HAROLD: Professor Steinbeck is the most intelligent man I know. His lecture series on matter and consciousness was simply brilliant. JOYCE: Steinbeck is actually an idiot. Yesterday I watched while he tried to get his car started. When it wouldn't start, he opened the hood, and he didn't even notice that someone had stolen the battery.
ombination of verbal (ambiguity) and factual
CHERYL: Tomorrow I'm going to the Metallica concert. Their music is fabulous. OLIVER: You call that music? Really it's just noise, and incredibly loud noise at that.
ombination of verbal (vagueness) and factual
FRANK: Look at that huge tree that fell last night. It must have made a tremendous crash when it came down. SHIRLEY: No, I'm afraid you're quite wrong. Sound is a perception, and perceptions depend on a perceiver. Therefore, since nobody was around here last night, there was no crash.
verbal (ambiguity)
ROGER: I think modern society is becoming more and more violent every day. Just look at the increase in murder, rape, and robbery. Violence is clearly an evil that must be eradicated. MARK: You might be right about the increase in crime, but the idea that violence is an evil is nonsense. Violence is quite natural. The universe was created in a tremendously violent big bang, the nuclear reactions that bring us sunlight are extremely violent, and insects and animals kill and devour one another all the time.
verbal (ambiguity)
VICKIE: Yesterday I visited the exhibition of the work of Jean Michel Basquiat at the Central Gallery. What an interesting artist he is! BARBARA: Don't be ridiculous! That's not art—it's just graffiti.
Factual and verbal
ERIC: I've just signed up for Philosophy 502-Dr. Peterson's class in metaphysics. I know I'm going to enjoy it because I've always been fascinated by magic and ghosts. LEAH: I'm afraid you're in for a surprise.
Verbal (ambiguity)
HEIDI: This morning I heard a lecture on the life of Jane Austen. She was such a wonderfully educated woman. DAVID: That's not true at all. Jane Austen dropped out of school when she was only eleven, and she never even attended high school, much less college or graduate school.
Verbal (ambiguity)
JOSEPH: My friend Jarvis, who plays for the NFL, told me that he has never taken any performance-enhancing drugs. STEPHEN: That can't be true. I know Jarvis too, and he told me that he has taken Viagra for years.
Verbal (ambiguity)
KARL: There's a euthanasia measure on the ballot today, and I think I'll vote for it. It seems reasonable that terminally ill patients should be allowed to be disconnected from life-support systems so that they can die peacefully and naturally. SERGIO: You must be crazy! Euthanasia means giving people lethal injections, and that's clearly murder.
Verbal (ambiguity)
MINDY: Blue Mango is a terrific three-piece band. FRED: That's impossible. No band is terrific if it can only play three pieces.
Verbal (ambiguity)
BRIAN: All of us have a right to life, and that means to the things necessary to sustain life. Therefore, that penniless, hungry person had a right to steal food from the grocery store. ELAINE: You're wrong about that. Rights are created by laws, and there is no law that says we have a right to steal.
Verbal (ambiguity).
FRED: Today's professional athletes are overpaid. Many of them make millions of dollars a year. SHAWN: I don't think they are overpaid at all. Just look at the owners of some of these teams. They make ten times as much as the athletes do.
Verbal (vagueness)
ANTHONY: The sun is much smaller than the earth. You see, it's just a small thing up there in the sky. Therefore, since the sun's gravitational attraction is proportional to its mass, the sun's gravity is less than the earth's. CINDY: You are as stupid as they come. I agree the mass of the sun is less than that of the earth, but its volume is greater. Therefore, since gravitational attraction is proportional to volume, the sun's gravity is greater than the earth's.
Factual
CAROL: Nelson could not have fought in the battle of Trafalgar, because that battle occurred in 1806, and Nelson died in 1804. JUSTIN: Your knowledge of history is atrocious! Nelson did fight in Trafalgar, and the date was October 21, 1805.
Factual
LESLIE: Your friend Paul told us that he would be visiting his parents in Knoxville this weekend. Therefore, he must not be at home. DIANA: I agree that Paul is probably not at home, but you didn't hear him right. He said that his parents live in Nashville.
Factual
PHIL: That was a great basketball game last night. Kobe Bryant scored 37 points. ARTHUR: Your statistics are all wet. Bryant scored only 34 points.
Factual
