Very quickly in the beginning of the assigned reading of “The Logical Structure of Arguments” chapter it became clear to me the riveting depth and complexity of an argument. I now realize that a lot of thought is put into the logical structure of a good and persuasive argument. This leaves me to consider the articles that I used in the unit one project and the amount of shear opinion that went into them. I continued to read about the enthymeme, or as I understand it, the in-mind or supplied belief that a person already must have prior to reading or seeing an argument. The enthymeme, according to the Toulmin system and Aristotle’s concepts for describing arguments as noted in the fourth chapter, consists of a claim and a supporting reason for the claim. The supporting reason then must have grounds or, as I understand it, facts, details, and data that back the reason. The logos map then continues with a warrant or, as I understand it, a belief or principle that the audience has to have. The warrant then has to have backing or, as I understand it, sub-arguments that support the warrant. I understand that the strength of an argument is in the enthymeme, the grounds, the warrant, and the backing. I also understand that a strong chance for rebuttal is present if the argument lacks the strength of logos (Ramage 75-80).
Trust is an important factor in everyday life. We trust our coffee maker to work every morning. We trust our car to start. We trust the weather-man to provide us with an accurate forecast. Well, that is another argument in itself. A good argument must have evidence to make the reader feel trust in the writer. Since ethos and evidence go hand-in-hand, I can very easily see where the chapter on evidence fits into the rhetorical triangle. I am in management. I have to deal with argument on a minute-to-minute basis. I find evidence, or the lack thereof, fascinating because many arguments I deal with have little to no supporting facts at all. Reading this can only help me, as a leader, to build strong arguments in the future. I also get from reading this that the rhetorical understanding of evidence is key component in the judgment of an argument. Evidence, as I understand it in the reading, has to be accurate, up-to-date, and sufficient. I also understand that the source and presentation of evidence matters a lot more that I previously thought. As an example, I suppose that a blind study of the reaction of 100 people is far less conclusive than the study of the reaction of 10,000 people. I know this example is crude and simple but this isn’t really something that I questioned before. I will definitely begin to define, question, and analyze evidence in the future in better detail with the knowledge that I have gained (Ramage 90-103).
I consider myself to be a visual learner and a visual person however I don’t use much visual representation in writing. After reading chapter six, I learned that I could have done this and changed the outcome in several different instances. I know that rhetoric is everywhere in society today. I know that a good argument must contain emotional aspects for the grounds and warrant to “feel” right. What I didn’t know was the many different avenues that emotion and pathos can take. I have never considered metaphors and analogies to tie to any argument that I have made. I just thought that good writing had metaphors and analogies to hold the attention of the reader. I will go back to this chapter many times to ensure that the pathos that I attempt to put into my writing contains the concrete language, narratives, and emotional appeal that I feel it needs (Ramage 99-122).
After the assigned reading, it is clear to me that I have some adjustments to make to my argument style. I understand that my writing sometimes lacks structure but that is an area that I feel good about. I understand structure and envy it in everyday life. Evidence and the use of ethos is an understood weakness of mine that I will continue to work to improve. With the internet I can always find evidence for or against any argument but the validity of the evidence will be questionable. This, again, is a work-in-progress step for me. Appealing to audiences’ senses is something that I love to do although I am far less untrained at this step than any other. I find that reading the works of other great writers helps with pathos and effective story-telling in my writing of arguments. After reading the assigned chapters I feel that I have a much better understand of both the analysis and the writing of a good argument. I will use this new knowledge of the writing process nearly every day.
Sources
Ramage, John D., John C. Bean and June Johnson. Writing Arguments: A Rhetoric with Readings. 8th Edition. New York: Longman, 2010. Print.
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