Argument or Discussion?

Before I started this course, when I heard the word argument, I pictured two people yelling obscenities at one another and the argument possessing the potential of escalating into a fistfight.  After the third week of completing the assignments in this course, my perspectives on the subject were drastically changed.  Now when I hear the word argument, it brings to mind a couple of people, or a group of people, having a civil and intelligent conversation with opposing viewpoints in an attempt to come to some sort of agreement on their difference of opinions.  This can be one party winning over the opponent, or a mutual agreement on the issue.  I have also learned, taking a quote from our textbook, “Argument is everywhere”.   (Wood, 2009).  We encounter this phenomenon every day of our lives and are practically subjected to it, in one form or another, throughout the entirety of any given day.

            There are many types of arguments.  Now, when I hear the word argument, I picture a consensual discussion among a group of people that have different ideas, in varying degrees of rebuttal, on how to resolve an issue of great importance.  I have learned to analyze these arguments and know what to look for within these arguments.  I have learned to identify certain argumentation strategies in order to understand what the argument is all about.  When I am analyzing an argument, I should know whether I am interested in the issue within a reasonable amount of time.  If so, then to what degree?  Do I totally agree, or am I reluctant to accept certain concepts of the argument?  All of this is extremely important in order to arrive at a solution to the issue.  Some arguments do not require a solution, they are there merely to persuade you to purchase their product, however, it is still an argument because you may not agree with some of their claims.  Sometimes there is no solution, but this will possibly help the audience to be better informed about the issue, and to help them decide the importance of the issue and how critical it is to resolve it.  (Wood, 2009, p. 73)

            It can also be very helpful to research the background of the author.  This may

help to understand his or her intentions.  I also examine what constraints will develop in the audience because of this argument.  Will I be constrained to shut out this argument completely or will it make me more agreeable with the argument?  I am also concerned about the constraints of the rest of the audience. (Wood, 2009, p. 73)

            The Toulmin model is useful in analyzing an argument.  It teaches you to breakdown an argument into parts.  If you can understand the different parts, it helps you to grasp onto the whole of the argument.  I will not include all the parts here, but basically this model illustrates how to understand what the article is saying,  recognize the sufficient information about the argument, identify the evidence for support of the claim of the argument, and locate sufficient warrant to back up all the above.  (Wood, 2009, p. 73)

            My instructor has helped me tremendously in this course by supplying ample feedback on my assignments to help me better understand these concepts.  I have learned that when you break something into parts, you will better understand how these parts fit together and what their respective purposes are.   It also makes it easier to identify the weak parts that need strengthening.   I feel that this knowledge will help me in my career because as I said, arguments are everywhere and you encounter them every day.   There is a reason for these arguments and if you know what the reasons are, you are better equipped to analyze the situation that they create.  If you know how to interpret these arguments you will better understand life in general, because life creates the need for these arguments and how we interpret, and react to, these arguments depends greatly on the knowledge we have to analyze them efficiently.

References

Wood, N. (2009). Perspectives on Argument.  Sixth Edition,Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall.