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Argumentation (2009) 23:387396 DOI 10.1007/s10503-009-9147-x
From Argument to Assertion
Michael S. Kochin
Published online: 16 June 2009 Springer Science+Business Media B.V. 2009
Abstract Acceptance or rejection of factual assertions is a far more important process than logical validation of arguments. Not only are assertions more persuasive than arguments; this is desirable, since we want our beliefs and actions to be reasonable and not just rational. When do we resort to argument? Real speeches heavy on arguments aim to present the speaker as calm, serious, and knowledgeable. In public life, one argues not in order to demonstrate the claim for which one is arguing, but to show that one shares the common prejudices or values that appear in the presuppositions and conclusions of ones argument, and to demonstrate mastery of the subject matter by displaying relevant knowledge in coherently organized detail. Arguing is thus a way of presenting facts and principles so as to show ones character as worthy of trust.
Keywords Assertion Enthymeme Facts Reasonableness Perelman Aristotle
In 1787, an old man was dying, a friend of Diderot, trained by the philosophers. The priests of the neighborhood were nonplussed: they had tried everything in vain; the good man would have no last rites, he was a philosopher. M. de Rollebon, who was passing by and who believed in nothing, bet the Cur of Moulins that he would need less than two hours to bring the sick man back to Christian sentiments. The Cur took the bet and lost: Rollebon began at three in the morning, the sick man confessed at ve and died at seven. Are you so forceful in argument? asked the Cur, You
M. S. Kochin (&)
Department of Political Science, Tel Aviv University, P.O. Box 39040, Ramat Aviv, 69978 Tel Aviv, Israele-mail: [email protected]
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outdo even us. I did not argue, answered M. de Rollebon, I made him fear hell. Jean-Paul Sartre (1964, 15)
Keynes said of the British Conservative politician Edward Bonar Law that he was unbeatable in debate, on the assumption that the pieces visible on the board constituted the whole premise of the argument. Argument, in other words, is an alternative to doing the hard work of bringing new facts to the table. As...