Summary Of For Argument's Sake By Deborah Tannen

In the article “Taking a ‘War of Words’ Too Literally”, Deborah Tannen defines “argument culture”, as “the best way to get anything done”. Debating is when “Issues are routinely approached by having two sides stake out opposing positions and do battle. This sometimes drives people to take positions that are more adversarial than they feel-and can get

What if your best friend went on an adventure. They had everything they had ever wanted. They didn't tell you or their family where they were going or how long they would be gone. They just picked up and left. Would you respect their decision to not tell anyone their plans? Would you think that this was a good idea of theirs, or would you think that this was a stupid decision on their part? Well this is what Christopher McCandless did. In 1968 McCandless was born. He was born to a good, wealthy, and happy family. He had everything any child could ever wish for. He was smart, athletic, and had a good education. In June 1990 he completed collage. In July of 1990 Christopher McCandless left his family and almost all belongings, and didn't tell anyone where he was going, or how long he'd be gone. Three years later McCandless was found dead in a blue bus located in Alaska. He had died of starvation. He went off and, ¨lived his life.¨ McCandless went out and lived in the wild. While Christopher McCandless died peacefully, the question has arose on whether McCandless was a noble adventurer or an arrogant fool. The evidence from many stories and social media clearly states that McCandless was in fact an arrogant fool. Christopher McCandless was an arrogant fool because he was not prepared, he

In Chapter 2 of Thank You for Arguing by Jay Heinrichs, he discuses how to distinguish the difference between an argument and a fight, and to decide what you want out of an argument. The key point of an argument is to win over the audience to your point of view. In order to win an argument, you need to persuade them. You want your opponent to be persuaded using subtle logical tactics not power and intimidation. Using power and intimidation is the characteristics of a fight. This is when one person takes out his aggression on another, which does not persuade them but initiate’s revenge or rejection. During a fight, the key objective is to win by attacking and belittling your opponent, paying no attention to getting them to change their mind.

The first chapter introduced the reader to the art of rhetoric. He describes how rhetoric works through real life examples. He demonstrates ways that rhetoric persuades us like, argument from strength, and seduction. He tells the reader that the sole purpose of arguing is to persuade the audience. He showed that the chief purpose of arguing is to also achieve consensus, a shared faith in a choice.

“The war on drugs, the war on cancer, the battle of the sexes, politicians’ turf battles- in the argument culture war metaphors pervade our talk and shape our thinking,” affirms Tannen. We approach the world in an argumentative frame of mind.”

Tonette Palmer, has joined her beloved Walter in hiding even since he was revealed to have slaughtered the prized and beloved Lion, Cecil.

Deborah Tannen’s essay “But What Do You Mean?” focuses on what she claims are differences between men and women when it comes to social interaction. The essay is sectioned into seven categories, in which she talks about how men and women tend to think and react when it comes to apologizing, criticizing, thanking, fighting, praising, complaining, and joking with others. In general, she seems to promote the idea that women tend to be more polite and refined, considering the feelings of others when conversing and taking everything as a formality. In contrast, men are apparently more blunt, taking a more direct approach with matters and being more unconcerned with how they may affect others. Women tend to automatically apologize and thank others

Deborah Tannen's book, The Argument Culture, is a compelling piece that looks at the perceived "argument culture" that is permeating the United States and the West in general. I do agree with what Ms. Tannen is saying, that there is a form of argument culture, but I think it could be argued that there is a contrasting part of American society called a "nice culture" as well. On the one hand, you have people who will argue about topics whenever the opportunity arises, but on the other hand you have people who will avoid confrontation at all costs. Ms. Tannen somewhat acknowledges other ethnic cultures in the United States that tend to argue in different ways, "You do not have to go to a foreign country to experience these cultural differences [of how people argue in different cultures.] Americans of different ethnic backgrounds can experience them just by making friends." (Tannen, 211)Acknowledging ethnic culture differences is important but to homogenize it into just an argument culture is wrong.It could still be argued that there is a converse culture in the United States that is based around niceness and civility. You can see it in the world around you where you are taught to use your manners as much as possible or in fast food jobs where workers are supposed to be as "nice" as possible and if anybody makes a mistake they are supposed to apologize as sincerely as possible. Another example of this nice culture is contrast to the argument culture is when adults are arguing

In the article, "For Argument’s Sake: Why Do We Feel Compelled to Fight About Everything? Witten by Deborah Tannen. She express that we live in an argumentative culture, where everyone is entitled to their own freedom of speech and rights. Tannen shows that arguments rarely lead to an understanding, but rather that an argument becomes less about the topic at hand and more about proving the opposing side wrong ( Tannen, Deborah(,2008). She tells her stories in many different form to gather the audience’s attention. She then starts to use big words and different logics to appeal to a more intellectual audience. She then starts her stories by manipulating and persuading the unintelligent audience to pull them in so they would know that she is insulting them by using the bigger words, making them feel intimidated.

In everyday life arguments happen quite frequently. In Thank You for Arguing by Jay Heinrichs, the author tries to go a day without persuasion or arguing and fails miserably. “For the time being my detector has nothing to say. But my cat does. She jumps on the bed and sticks her nose in my armpit. As reliable as my watch and twice as annoying, the cat persuades remarkable well for ten dumb pounds of fur. Instead of words she uses gesture and tone of voice- potent ingredients of argument.” (Heinrichs page 7) If kids are experiencing and using the argument skill from day one, then it should be the teacher’s job to refine and expand upon the skill. If

In Deborah Tannen’s book, “The Argument Culture,” she states our society has become an argument culture, where “a culture of critique” can oversimplify, distort or filler out important aspects of a debate. In an online thread posted on “The Blaze” website page under an article that reads, “Teacher: Deport illegal immigrants so schools can ‘better serve American citizen students,” there have been numerous comments posted by online users representing the argument culture, which Tannen emphasizes we are living in. user “Info10” stated, “Rayne Weankee, a former AHS student, told the station he’s “disappointed because I always felt the school should be held to a higher standard, and this isn’t helping their image.” It just moved to a higher

In Rebecca Jones’ article, “Finding the Good Argument OR Why Bother With Logic”, she states her claim as being argument is a metaphor for war. She explains that argument happens between two people who are on opposite points of view on an issue, where one person is trying to get the other one to think about what they are saying and where their view is coming from. Jones states that arguments are known to be “bad”, “heated”, and “violent.” (156). She then uses examples like the comic strips of an argument that seem to be a cat fight, a metaphor about an argument being like a war which means there are only two sides, only one side should win and a compromise means defeat. She also states that to be able to understand a person’s logic, we have

In the excerpt by Deborah Tannen entitled, The Argument Culture: Moving from Debate to Dialogue Tannen speaks about the oppositional nature of public discourse. She expressed her thoughts on how we are determined to seek certainty by using arguments from two different standpoints, as if there are no additional angles that can be examined. Oftentimes, there are more than two sides of an issue, but due to the way society has taught us, we only look at issues from two extreme perspectives. I find Dr. Tannen to be extremely intelligent in her observations of how people communicate using debates and opposition as a means to express what we believe to be true. Although Americans habitually view issues from only two extreme points of view, dialogue solves more problems than debates because it does not cause division among people as frequently as debates does.

The expression argument has two meanings in scholarly writing. First, it means a composition that takes a position on one side of a divisive issue. You might write an argument against the death penalty, or for or against censorship of pornography. But argument has another meaning, too. It means an essay that, simply, argues a point. You might assemble an argument about the significance of ancestor myths in a certain aborigine culture, or you might write an argument defending your understanding of any poem or essay that is read in your philosophy class. (Winthrop University) You are not necessarily taking one side of a divisive issue, but you are required to defend your points with credible evidence. You are taking a position. In a sense,

This material set-off in this fashion in the handout identifies the revision notation for these matters. Guidelines for the Argumentative/Persuasive Essay