| Term | Definition |
|---|
| Argument | A claim supported by reasons and/or evidence |
| Claim (intro) | A set of propositions in which the conclusion sets it apart from other premises |
| Logos | The coherence of a case made in language |
| Pathos | Appeal to emotion |
| Ethos | Projection of a character into a text |
| Four Habits of Argumentative Writing | Thesis (what your argument is going to show), define terms, substantiate claims, and anticipate objections |
| Conviction | One of the four habits of argumentative writing; an argument that seeks another's assent to a proposition |
| Persuasion | Pragmatic model; Cirius and Channell; seeks to change conduct |
| Interrogation | Pragmatic model; Cirius and Channell; inquiry; seeks after conviction |
| Reconciliation | Pragmatic model; (Cirius and Channell); seeks a workable settlement in a dispute where shared assent is not expected |
| Rogerian Rule for Negotiation | Each person can speak up for himself only after he has first restated the ideas and feelings of the previous speaker, and to that speaker's satisfaction |
| Toulmin Schema | Every effective argument has 3 basic parts: thesis (declaration), support, and refutation |
| Thesis: Claim (Toulmin) | The statement of the project of the piece; explains most of what happens in the piece; the job of the argument as a whole |
| Thesis: Qualification (Toulmin) | The function within the thesis that steps it back from an absolute claim and gives the rhetor some wiggle room |
| Thesis: Exception (Toulmin) | Elaborated variation on qualification |
| Support: Reasons (Toulmin) | Good (questions as to the values that underlie a piece)? Relevant? Supported by evidence |
| Support: Evidence (Toulmin) | Is the evidence relevant? Is the data sound? Is it substantiated? |
| Support: Warrants (Toulmin) | Background assumptions on the basis of which a claim is intelligible |
| Refutation (Toulmin) | The place in the argument in which the author anticipates objections to their claim and rebuts those objections |
| Figurative language | A deviation from ordinary/literal usage which is, nevertheless, effective |
| Scheme | A deviation from the ordinary pattern or arrangement of words; transference of order |
| Trope | A deviation from the ordinary principle and significance of words; transference of meaning |
| Catachresis | The re-purposing of language to accommodate new experiences; the twisting of the literal into the figurative as a trope |
| Anastrophe | The changing of word order; a scheme |
| Metaphor | One of the 4 master tropes; Proposes a direct substitution from one domain into another |
| Metonymy | One of the 4 master tropes; Substitution organized by continuity |
| Synecdoche | One of the 4 master tropes; Substitution organized by associations based on containment; wholes to parts and parts to wholes |
| Irony | One of the 4 master tropes; Substitution organized based on inversion or reversal |
| Litotes | Understatement |
| Hyperbole | Exaggeration; overstatement |
| Oxymoron | Conjoins apparently oppositional terms |
| Paradox | An apparently false or nonsensical statement that nonetheless conveys insight |
| Prosopopeia | Personification; invests inanimate objects with agency |
| Onomatopoeia | Language that is treated as mimetic rather than representational |
| Occultatio | Emphasizing something by claiming not to be talking about it |
| Rhetorical question | Making a statement by asking a question for which you either already know the answer or are indifferent to the answer you may receive |
| Isocolon | Repetition of grammatical forms; Ex: The bigger they are, the harder they fall |
| Ellipses | Omission |
| Alliteration | Repetition of initial consonants |
| Assonance | Repetition of internal vowels in words |
| Antanaclasis | Homophonic repetition; Ex: Though we are apart, you are a part of me still |
| Auxesis | Amplification with arrangement in ascending order of importance |
| Chiasmus | A mirror inversion of phrases, words, or ideas |
| Enallage | An effective grammatical mistake |
| Logic | A set of conventions for assessing the coherence of reasoning in language |
| Proposition | A description of a state of affairs that can be assessed as either true or false |
| Inductive reasoning | Form powerful general principles from an accumulation of particular instances, reasons, evidence, or data |
| Deductive reasoning | Draws particular conclusions from general principles |
| Inductive leap | The stretch of imagination (imaginative move, insight, or intuition) that draws a reasonable inference from available information |
| Logical definition of an argument | Any set of propositions of which one, the conclusion, is claimed to follow logically from the others |
| Validity | A matter of form |
| Soundness | A matter of content; an argument can be formally valid but unsound |
| Enthymeme | A conclusion supported by reason; "This because that" |
| Distribution | The linkage provided through the term P (the middle term) that puts us in the position to make the conclusion |
| Syllogism | Hidden beneath enthymemes, creating more elaborated logical arguments |
| Categorical syllogism | Type of deductive syllogism; All A are C |
| Hypothetical syllogism | Type of deductive syllogism; If A, then C |
| Disjunctive syllogism | Type of deductive syllogism; Either A or C |
| Modus Ponens | A syllogism whose minor premise affirms the antecedent of the major premise |
| Modus Tollens | A syllogism whose minor premise denies the consequence of the major premise |
| Classical fallacies | Never valid; The fallacy of denying the antecedent and the fallacy of affirming the consequent |
| Argumentum ad hominem | An argument against the man; an argument that attacks the character of the rhetor, the speaker, or the writer instead of the arguments they are making |
| Argumentum ad baculum | The appeal to the club; the appeal to force |
| Argumentum ad ignorantiam | Arguing that a proposition is true because it has never been proven false |
| Argumentum ad populum | An appeal that plays on the feelings of an audience or on the popularity of an idea in particular |
| Argumentum ad verecundiam | An appeal to traditional values or inappropriate authority |
| Argumentum ad misericordian | The appeal to pity |
| The Complex/Rigged Question | A question that traps you into admitting something however you answer it |
| Petitio Principii | Begging the question; assuming as a premise the conclusion which is to be proved |
| The Straw Man | Oversimplifying the opposing position in order to refute it more easily |
| Ignoratio Elenchi/Red Herring | The argument will prove an irrelevant conclusion or one that is different form the one intended in order to mislead or evade |
| Converse Accident | Unrepresentative sample; a generalization made on the basis of an unrepresentative sample (of instances) |
| Post hoc, ergo Propter hoc | Confusing causal sequence with temporal sequence |
| Equivocation | Wit; pun; the deliberate confusion of two ore more meanings of a word |
| Composition | Falsely attributing properties of a part to the whole |
| Division | Falsely attributing properties of the whole to the part |
| False Dilemma | Reduce the options of a complex argument to just two |
| Loaded Language | Choosing words that prejudice or disparage an argument before it can be considered fairly |
| Slippery Slope | Claiming that one step in a certain direction commits us more to every step following it on some construal of that |
| Analogy | drawing a comparison in order to show a similarity in some respect |
| Performative Speech | Does not describe a state of affairs, but rather brings a state of affairs into being through language |
| Major premise | Generalization; All P are Q |
| Antecedent | In All P are Q, P |
| Consequent | In All P are Q, Q |
| Minor Premise | Particular instance (X is P) |
| Minor term | Introduced by the minor premise; All P are Q-->X is P, X |
| Major term | In All P are Q-->X is P, Q |
| Middle Term | In All P are Q-->X is P, P |
| Declarative/Indicative Utterance | Propositional utterances are said to be in an indicative or declarative mode |
| Premise | A statement that is assumed to be true and from which a conclusion can be drawn |
| Conclusion | The proposition arrived at by logical reasoning (such as the proposition that must follow from the major and minor premises of a syllogism) |
| Simile | A figure of speech that expresses a resemblance between things of different kinds (usually formed with 'like' or 'as') |
| Literal Language | A form of language in which writers and speakers mean exactly what their words denote. |
Combine with other sets
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