Competency: Argumentation
Argumentation is the art of articulating a reason to justify a position. A position is a statement or claim, an opinion is a belief someone holds, but an argument provides the reasoning to take a position or opinion. We might say “avocados are good,” or “I like avocados,” but we justify these when we add “because avocados are healthy, and healthy foods are good fuel for the body.”
How It Works: An argument should do the work to express a position and justify the position with some warrants or evidence following logical steps. This work should persuade someone to consider the particular perspective the position takes. The argument should be strong enough to take into consideration some easy objections to the position, likely enough that it avoids depending on exceptions to how the world usually works, and detailed enough to provide connections, examples, or demonstrations of how the position works.
Difficulties: It is common to write a first argument easily, then struggle with a lack of creativity in trying to play with different perspectives. It might be that your own position is too obvious to you, so it is hard to see where your assumptions are in order to flesh out the logical steps. It is also easy to write an argument that would apply too broadly so it lacks specificity. Sometimes you might be satisfied or tired and give up too early without being generous with describing each step for your reader.
Recommendations: When writing an argument, think about your reader as someone who does not already believe in your position, or someone who is going to consider arguments for other or even opposite positions. You want your argument to stand for itself and against scrutiny. Consider what objections you might bring to your own argument so you can already preempt objections in what you put forward.
Exercise
If you are interested in exercising your argumentation skills, try the work below. You are welcome to email me, message me, or comment below if you would like feedback on your arguments.
Write three different arguments for the question:
Is hope good?