CONTACTS 

SUBJECTS
Argument Mapping

0403 -
0403 -    ..
0404 - Summary/Objective
0405 -
040501 - Follow up
040502 -
040504 -  ..
040505 - Website for "Rationale", which claims to be the major software for
040506 - Argument Mapping.
040507 -
040508 -    http://www.austhink.com/
040510 -  ..
040511 - What is Argument Mapping?
040512 -
040513 - Argument mapping is, roughly, making a picture of reasoning.  More
040514 - precisely, it is the graphical display of the structure of reasoning
040515 - and argumentation.
040517 -  ..
040518 - Typically, argument maps are box-and-arrow diagrams, a bit like
040519 - flowcharts. Argument mapping belongs to a family of "thought mapping"
040520 - techniques which includes concept mapping and mind mapping.  Argument
040521 - mapping is distinctive in focusing exclusively on reasoning or
040522 - argument structure, and is specialized for that purpose.
040524 -  ..
040525 - See "The Logic of Everyday Arguments" for a text based analysis
040526 - system.
040527 -
040528 -    Find the "Logic of Everyday Arguments" book and flesh out the
040529 -    reference.
040531 -  ..
040532 - Definitions from the Tutorials
040533 -
040534 - Tutorials can be found at
040535 -
040536 -    http://www.austhink.com/reason/tutorials/
040537 -
040539 -  ..
040540 - A claim is a proposition put forward by somebody as true.
040542 -  ..
040543 - A reason is a piece of evidence in support of some claim.
040544 - Technically, a reason is a set of claims working together to provide
040545 - evidence that another claim is true.
040547 -  ..
040548 - A contention is a claim for which some evidence is presented, whether
040549 - for or against.  Logicians often use the word "conclusion" to refer to
040550 - a contention.
040552 -  ..
040553 - An objection is a piece of evidence against some claim.  Technically,
040554 - an objection is set of claims working together to provide evidence
040555 - that another claim is false.
040557 -  ..
040558 - A simple argument is just a contention with a single piece of reason
040559 - for it, or a contention with a single objection to it.
040560 -
040561 -    Note that all you need for a simple argument is a single piece of
040562 -    evidence bearing upon a single contention.  You don't need both a
040563 -    reason and an objection.  In other words, a simple argument is not
040564 -    a debate; it is just an elementary piece of reasoning.
040566 -     ..
040567 -    "Simple" doesn't mean small, short or obvious.  A simple argument
040568 -    might be quite technical or hard to understand.  What makes an
040569 -    argument simple is that it has just one contention and one piece of
040570 -    evidence.
040572 -     ..
040573 -    This is important because the simple argument is the basic unit of
040574 -    all reasoning.   All arguments, no matter how complex, are made up
040575 -    of simple arguments hooked up together.
040577 -  ..
040578 - A declarative sentence is one which states a proposition which can be
040579 - true or false.
040580 -
040581 -    Some kinds of sentences are not declarative; for example, questions
040582 -    don't state propositions.  Reasoning is a matter of the logical or
040583 -    evidential relationships among propositions, so you should always
040584 -    be using declarative sentences to express reasoning.
040586 -  ..
040587 - You should avoid putting reasoning in boxes. In an argument map, boxes
040588 - contain claims, not whole arguments.
040590 -  ..
040591 - The core principles of Module 2 are
040592 -
040593 -    • Every reason and objection is made up of at least two distinct
040594 -      claims, known as co-premises; and every significant term or
040595 -      concept in a simple argument must appear in at least two claims
040596 -      (co-premises or contention).
040598 -       ..
040599 -    • When mapping arguments, observing these two principles will help
040600 -      ensure that the arguments are properly structured, and that all
040601 -      important parts of the argument have been identified and put in
040602 -      their right place.
040604 -  ..
040605 - A premise is a claim which is part of a reason or an objection.
040607 -  ..
040608 - Co-premises: Two premises within a single reason or objection are
040609 - co-premises in relation to each other.
040611 -  ..
040612 - The Golden Rule: Every simple argument has at least two co-premises.
040614 -  ..
040615 - A hidden premise is a co-premise which is not actually stated when an
040616 - argument is presented.
040617 -
040618 -    If, as the Golden Rule says, every reason or objection has at least
040619 -    two co-premises, why do people usually hide some of them?  Often,
040620 -    co-premises are obvious or uncontroversial and don't really need to
040621 -    be explicitly stated.  However there are many other explanations.
040622 -    People tend to be one or more of the following...
040623 -
040624 -       • Impatient. Life is short and people want to move on to the
040625 -         next thing, whatever that is.
040627 -          ..
040628 -       • Lazy. Who could be bothered with co-premises?
040630 -          ..
040631 -       • Confused.  People are unclear about their own arguments, and
040632 -         don't really know what their co-premises are.
040634 -          ..
040635 -       • Devious.  Sometimes, people deliberately hide co-premises
040636 -         because they know or suspect that the co-premises are false,
040637 -         rendering their argument worthless.
040639 -     ..
040640 -    When people hide co-premises, they are leaving it to us, as
040641 -    listeners or readers, to fill in the gaps.  This often involves a
040642 -    lot of effort and skill.
040644 -     ..
040645 -    Since argument mapping is all about making the structure of
040646 -    reasoning explicit, if we are doing our job in a completely
040647 -    thorough way, we will identify all co-premises, which means
040648 -    identifying all hidden premises.  This is one of the biggest
040649 -    challenges in argument mapping.
040651 -     ..
040652 -    Alternative terminology
040654 -     ..
040655 -    Logicians also use various other terms for hidden premises.  Some
040656 -    you might encounter include:
040657 -
040658 -       • missing premises
040659 -
040660 -       • assumptions - that is, claims which are assumed to be true for
040661 -         the argument to work, but are not stated.
040663 -     ..
040664 -    Logicians use the term enthymeme for an argument with a hidden
040665 -    premise.  Most arguments encountered in everyday contexts are
040666 -    enthymematic.
040668 -  ..
040669 - The Rabbit Rule: every significant word, phrase or concept appearing
040670 - in the contention of a simple argument must also appear in one of the
040671 - premises.
040673 -  ..
040674 - The Holding Hands Rule: every significant word, phrase or concept
040675 - appearing in a premise of a simple argument but not in the contention
040676 - must also appear in some other premise of that simple argument.
040678 -  ..
040679 - A dangler is a significant word, term, phrase or concept which appears
040680 - only once in a simple argument, without being "tied in" by also
040681 - appearing somewhere else.
040683 -  ..
040684 - The No Danglers Rule: every significant word, phrase or concept
040685 - appearing in one claim (contention or premise) of a simple argument
040686 - must also appear in another claim.
040688 -  ..
040689 - A multi-layer argument is an argument in which there are reasons or
040690 - objections bearing upon reasons or objections.
040692 -  ..
040693 - The main contention of a multi-layer argument is the one at the top
040694 - level.  It is the only contention which is not also a premise in
040695 - another simple argument.
040697 -  ..
040698 - A rejoinder is an objection to a reason.  A rejoinder provides
040699 - evidence that a reason is not a good reason, i.e., not good evidence
040700 - for its contention.
040701 -
040702 -    There are two kinds of rejoinders.  The first kind show that one of
040703 -    the claims in the reason is not true.  The second kind show that
040704 -    the claims, even if true, don't provide good evidence for their
040705 -    contention.
040707 -     ..
040708 -    In other words, rejoinders work by providing evidence against one
040709 -    of the premises, or by providing evidence against the connection
040710 -    between the premises and their contention.
040712 -  ..
040713 - A rebuttal is an objection to an objection.  A rebuttal provides
040714 - evidence that an objection is not a good objection, i.e., not good
040715 - evidence against its contention.
040717 -  ..
040718 - A chain of reasoning is a multi-layer argument.  Usually the term is
040719 - applied to arguments with more than two layers.
040720 -
040721 -    In ordinary life, the number of layers you can expect to see has a
040722 -    lot to do with factors such as:
040723 -
040724 -       • people's attention spans, level of interest, and capacity to
040725 -         cope with complexity
040727 -          ..
040728 -       • the complexity of the domain the reasoning is concerned with,
040729 -         and the amount which is known about it.
040731 -     ..
040732 -    It is not uncommon to find arguments with six, eight or even ten
040733 -    layers, but arguments with fifteen or twenty layers are very rare.
040735 -  ..
040736 - An argument web is an argument which is both multi-reason and
040737 - multi-layer.
040739 -  ..
040740 - A premise objection is an objection to a stated premise of another
040741 - simple argument.
040743 -  ..
040744 - An inference objection is an objection to another simple argument,
040745 - providing evidence not against any stated premise but against the
040746 - relationship between the stated premises and their contention.
040747 -
040748 -    An inference objection is not aimed at any of the currently stated
040749 -    premises.  It is aimed at a premise - just one that has not yet
040750 -    been stated.
040752 -     ..
040753 -    Another way to put this point is that every objection to an
040754 -    inference is also an objection to an assumption which helps connect
040755 -    the other premise(s) to the main contention.  That assumption can
040756 -    be expressed as a claim, and then the objection can be targeted on
040757 -    that claim.
040759 -     ..
040760 -    Thus, to produce an argument map of an inference objection, follow
040761 -    these steps:
040762 -
040763 -       1. Take the reason, and articulate all its co-premises.  Follow
040764 -          the Rabbit and Holding Hands Rules to help you do this.
040766 -           ..
040767 -       2. The inference objection will now provide evidence that one of
040768 -          the co-premises is false.  Identify that co-premise, and
040769 -          attach the objection to it.
040771 -     ..
040772 -    It will appear that they are objecting to the inference rather than
040773 -    to the current premises.  In a sense that is right; that is what
040774 -    they are doing.  However you will always find that, in a properly
040775 -    articulated argument map, a previously-hidden premise will come to
040776 -    light, and the objection will provide evidence against that
040777 -    premise.
040779 -  ..
040780 - A premise rebuttal is an objection to an objection which provides
040781 - evidence that one of the stated premises of that objection is false.
040783 -  ..
040784 - An inference rebuttal is an objection to another objection which
040785 - provides evidence against the inference from the stated premises of
040786 - that other objection to the falsity of its contention.
040787 -
040788 -    Terminology: Premise objections vs Premise rebuttals
040789 -
040790 -    When should you use the term "premise objection" as opposed to
040791 -    "premise rebuttal"?  Easy:
040792 -
040793 -       • any objection to a premise is a premise objection
040795 -          ..
040796 -       • a premise objection is also a premise rebuttal if it is a
040797 -         rebuttal, i.e., an objection to an objection
040799 -  ..
040800 - In short, a premise rebuttal is an objection to an objection which
040801 - targets a premise.
040803 -  ..
040804 - Two fundamental macrostructural rules.
040805 -
040806 - The first is the Pyramid Rule, which says, roughly, that a
040807 - properly-constructed argument will be shaped like a pyramid.  It has
040808 - two main aspects:
040809 -
040810 -    1. The higher in the argument tree a reason or objection appears,
040811 -       the more general or abstract it should be.
040813 -        ..
040814 -    2. Reasons or objections at a given level in the tree should be at
040815 -       roughly the same level of generality or abstraction.
040817 -  ..
040818 - A group of considerations is all reasons and objections bearing
040819 - directly upon the main contention or any other reason or objection.
040821 -  ..
040822 - The second macrostructural rule is known by the acronym MECE, which
040823 - stands for "Mutually Exclusive, Collectively Exhaustive." It also has
040824 - two main aspects, which boil down to the simple idea that in any group
040825 - of reasons or objections, there should be no overlaps and no gaps.
040826 -
040827 -    1. Mutually exclusive (ME): Within a group, considerations should
040828 -       be genuinely distinct from each other.
040830 -        ..
040831 -    2. Collectively exhaustive (CE): Within a group, considerations
040832 -       should cover all the relevant, serious arguments; they should
040833 -       leave no gaps.
040835 -        ..
040836 -       "Collectively exhaustive" means that the group covers ALL the
040837 -       arguments.  It is an interesting question what all means here.
040838 -       Roughly, it means all relevant, serious arguments.  These
040839 -       include:
040840 -
040841 -          • any argument raised by any contributor to the debate
040843 -             ..
040844 -          • any argument that you can think of, over and above those
040845 -            raised by others.
040847 -             ..
040848 -          • arguments which are relevant even if you happen to think
040849 -            that they are pretty weak
040851 -  ..
040852 - A debate is a dispute in which the first-level reasons and objections
040853 - are themselves disputed.
040854 -
040855 -    In ordinary conversation, the term debate is often used quite
040856 -    loosely to refer to just about any argumentative disagreement.
040857 -    Here, we are giving it a more precise technical definition.  It is
040858 -    an argument structure of a certain sort.
040860 -     ..
040861 -    A debate in this sense is, roughly, where each side actually
040862 -    responds to the (top level) moves made by the other side.  It is
040863 -    not enough for you to provide your reasons to accept the conclusion
040864 -    and for me to provide my objections to it.  Rather, I must actually
040865 -    respond to your reasons - and you must respond to my objections.
040866 -    In other words, in a genuine debate, each side takes the other
040867 -    side's arguments seriously, not just their position.
040869 -     ..
040870 -    The concept of a debate is important because, all too often, people
040871 -    concentrate on mounting their own arguments, and fail to challenge
040872 -    what the other side says, even if the other side has very powerful
040873 -    arguments.
040874 -
040875 -
040876 -
040877 -
040878 -
040879 -
0409 -