The 7 Building Blocks of Effective Arguments

hi I'm Chris GAD that's mr. get to you this video is designed to provide you with an overview of the essential building blocks that you need to include in order to produce a strong argument now when I say argument I'm not talking about a fight like my parents are having an argument in this context an argument refers to the presentation of a point of view with the aim of convincing other people to agree with it I often find that when people present an argument they use just one approach one type of content and that doesn't make your argument robust in order to produce a strong argument you need to employ a whole variety of strategies now this video isn't about specific persuasive techniques there's literally dozens of them no this video is about the fundamental building blocks that you need to use to construct a strong argument I use the idea of building blocks because I think it's a good way to illustrate how we approach arguments so here's some blocks that I stole from my own kids our toy box any argument needs to be deliberately constructed in order for it to be effective if you consider this block tower if I don't use all of the blocks it won't be as tall if I don't arrange them and balance them appropriately it won't be as strong just as a building is constructed we need to construct arguments that have solid foundations and that are well supported in order to do that we usually include seven things seven building blocks of effective arguments as I explain each one I'll provide examples as an issue to work with I'll use the old favorite of English teachers everywhere should schools have uniforms start with a hook just like a fish hook catches fish we want something that will catch the audience's attention we could use strong language or shocking information that will draw the audience in for example related to our issue I could say you want students to worry about what they wear or focus on their schoolwork by asking a rhetorical question and presenting these oversimplified opposing points hopefully that would capture the attention of my audience next we have a contention a contention is your particular viewpoint on the issue summed up in one sentence sometimes this is called your thesis statement if an issue can be phrased as a question then the contention is your answer so for the issue should schools have uniforms our contention could be schools should have uniforms because they help to minimize distractions for students now the next three come in a set they originally identified by the ancient Greek philosopher Aristotle and they have cool Greek names too ethos pathos and logos let's go through each one ethos is where you show that you are worth listening to you need to demonstrate that you are credible that you are an authority on the issue this could be because of your experiences your job who you are or by showing that you have researched to develop a broad understanding of the issue for our example I could say as a teacher with over 80 years experience in the classroom I've seen firsthand the positive effect that uniforms have on student behavior I'm not that all pathos is where you appeal to your audience's emotions to be convincing you need to win their hearts you could elicit sympathy tell a personal anecdote or charm with humor I might tell the story of my poor cousin who was mocked each day because of his cheap sneakers eventually the teasing became so intense he couldn't concentrate on his schoolwork and eventually he dropped out of school altogether the final part of this set is logos which involves presenting logical reasoning your argument isn't going to be very strong if you don't include any hard evidence you could refer to a study statistics include a quote from an expert or anything else that provides sound support for your contention for our example I could refer to an article I read where a principal was quoted as saying that after introducing a uniform policy incidents of other behavioral misconduct dropped by over 20% to really make your argument convincing you need to demonstrate the flaws in alternative positions include a rebuttal which means you present the opposing point of view and then you shoot it down you show why it is wrong for example the opposing side might say that dealing with uniform issues is a waste of teachers time but I could rebut that by pointing out the evidence that shows that in schools where the students wear uniforms there is actually a reduction in other behavioral incidents and finally you want to drive home your argument you want to end with a really strong point something memorable and something that leads your audience utterly convinced that your point of view is the right one for our case I could say schools without uniforms are schools that don't allow children to learn give them the best chance give them a uniform for the record I don't actually like uniforms so there you have it seven building blocks in order to construct a strong argument now remember the contention is your argument summed up so the other six are really there to support and elaborate your contention now let's think about the order does the order matter ah doc but are upside down them as I layered them up let's flip it over and that's better now we can read them top to bottom so does the auto matter well it's not a hard and fast rule but some blocks make sense in certain positions more than they would in others for example the hawk and the drive at home they make sense at the beginning to catch attention and at the end to provide a strong conclusion the contention doesn't have to come second but it does make sense to present your main point early in your argument for the remaining four ethos pathos logos and the rebuttal there you have some room to move they really can be switched around and in fact you'll usually include multiple examples of each in your argument so these are quite flexible but there is probably a natural flow if you start by establishing your credibility then engage people emotionally then logically and finally rebut the opposing point of view so following this order is a good guide but not a rigid rule what happens however if you leave out a block altogether well as I said at the beginning if you don't include these essential building blocks of an argument your argument won't be strong if you leave out the hook then you don't have an engaged audience they might not even hear your argument no logos and you like a shock-jock spouting off unsubstantiated opinions without a rebuttal your argument is one-sided and it can easily be challenged by opposing opinions if you leave out the contention well then you're not even saying what your argument is and so you become really ambiguous you get the idea leave any one of these out and your argument loses strength so when you're constructing arguments build them strong include all seven building blocks of effective arguments I don't have a spell

Channel: Chris Gatt

Views: 63,821

Keywords: education, persuasion, persuasive techniques, issues, arguments

Id: DmKGMOFON0g

Length: 8min 1sec (481 seconds)

Published: Mon Feb 09 2015