Thank You For Arguing Chapter 2 Analysis

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.

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 Chapter 3-Control the Tense of Thank You for Arguing, we are shown how changing your argument to a different tense can give you the upperhand. This is the task presented by the rhetorical lab on page 29. The directions tell to examine the tenses if we “find ourselves a victim” in an argument, and to then switch from the past or present tense to the future. I tested this technique on my brother, whom I have years of fighting with under my belt, but very little experience arguing with.

This course has taught me that an argument will be most effective when both sides are presented to the reader. It is not enough to persuade the reader to agree with the opinion of the writer by only presenting evidence that proves his/her view point. Every person will have their own personal opinions on a topic. Most of the time there is no definite answer as to whether or not they are right or wrong.

This was a smart way of putting it. Throughout the chapter he explains that the point of an argument is to help you. He also explains that it’s okay to let your opponent rack up “score points”.

After reading the article “For Argument’s Sake” by Deborah Tannen, it was clear that she was trying to prove that people now a day will argue just to argue. She uses her own experiences as examples. For example, she was on a talk show with her antagonist, who stated to her “When you get out there, I’m going to attack you. But don’t take it personally.” Even though her antagonist clearly stated he enjoyed her book, he was still going to argue with her over it, therefore arguing just to argue. Another example she uses is when a woman called that talk show. The woman told a story of her walking to an area that was a non-smoking area, where there she found a man smoking. She figured that instead of demanding him to stop smoking, she simply states

My honest thought on argumentation prior to starting this course were that argumentation was going to very easy. I simply thought that it would consist of arguing with someone back and forth trying to get my point across. But i was wrong, base off my pro/con speech and the few chapters that we have covered i've realized that argumentation is more complex than what i had expected it to be. There is different ways that someone can go about when state their claim using Rogerian argumentations style or using Aristotle’s rhetorical appeals or other forms of argumentation styles. After my speech i realized that a clear and controversial topic is needed in order to see both sides of the claim. Aside from a topic research is very important it must be credible the more credibility one has the better are your chances of persuading the audience. Now i see argumentation as a process of reasoning that must consist of organized information and credible sources.

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 article For Argument’s Sake; Why Do We Feel Compelled to Fight About Everything? The author brings to light an important understanding of why we as a society argue about everything and why it is necessary in the persuasion process. The most effective way to get a problem solved is to create an argument debate. (Tannen, Deborah) It is often a natural reaction to become defensive when another person threatens our belief system, Tannen refers to this process as the “knee-jerk nature”. When a person finds their standing being opposed, one will fight back with debate therefore causing and extreme case of representing each side. (Tannen, Deborah)

“Human intelligence is the intellectual prowess of humans, which is marked by complex cognitive feats and high levels of motivation and self-awareness.” “Human intelligence is a marvelous subtle, and poorly understood phenomenon. There are no danger of duplicating it anytime soon.” The 3 types of intelligences I’m using is Logical-Mathematical Intelligence, Intrapersonal Intelligence and Interpersonal Intelligence. There are different ways people can be intelligent. That’s why it will be cool to have one of those intelligences.

In the book Thank You for Arguing, the author, Jay Heinrichs presents the reader with the fundamental tools to master the art of persuasion. Heinrichs applies current events and topics to the book to grab the reader’s attention and spark their interest in the wonderful world of persuasion. The ultimate goal by the end of the book is the ability to apply the tools and techniques mentioned throughout the book into your arguments, hopefully resulting in success. I know that reading this book has equipped me with the knowledge and tools to shape my arguments correctly, and strategically in my favor. Hopefully this paragraph is a reflection of that. Now think back to your high school experience, do you recall the heart wrenching moment when you

Jane moved into her new schoolroom in Morton and has a class of twenty students with only a few who can read. The rest of the class can not read or write and have no will to learn. Jane feels degraded with the work she is doing, however she wishes to change that feeling. It seems like Jane feels like she has fallen down the social ladder by taking this position, although she seems happy having friends, a job and a home. St. John’s personality is described in this chapter when he says that he wanted to be a politician or an orator rather than a clergyman where he has no power. Later in the chapter He decides to become a missionary and work with the pagans in India.

Wood, N. (2012). Perspectives on argument (7th ed.). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson Education. ISBN10:1-256-50923-X. p.

Thank You for Arguing: What Aristotle, Lincoln, and Homer Simpson can Teach us About the Art of Persuasion by Jay Heinrichs is an excellent, and exceptional book on how to argue with anyone and persuade them.

An argument must always have a statement on which it stands, and an effective argument provides support for this stance. An argument is similar to a recipe, when provided with the correct materials it comes out strong and good, and when not provided with the correct materials it comes out lacking impact. McMahan provides an in depth analysis of each ingredient needed to make a proper argument. She begins by looking at the literature as a whole and finding the main issues in the writing. She suggest that this should be done because it helps come up with the reader’s opinion and stance on the material. In essence, it acts as a gate way to the rest of the paper. After, McMahan continues by looking at the claim. The claim is the thesis statement,