Toulmin's Method For Argumention
How to win ANY argument!
Stephen Toulmin 1922-2009
The 6 Main Components
- Claim: This states your position on the subject.
- Grounds/Data: Data that support your claim.
- Warrant: This connects your claim and your grounds through common sense.
- Backing: Your backing should support your warrant.
- Qualifier: This strengthens your claim. Ex. Should/Could
- Rebuttal: If one were to argue your claim, this is how you would refute their argument.
12 Main Fallacies
Straw Man: twisting your opponent's argument to make it support yours
comparing your problem with another that has few similarities :False Analogy
False Dilemma: offering two solutions where yours is obviously better
a personal attack against your opinion :Ad Hominem
Appeal to Questionable Authority: not specifying your sources ex. Some sources say...
one thing will happen if this happens without reasoning :Post Hoc Ergo Propter Hoc
Appeal to Tradition: it worked in the past, why change it?
jumping to conclusions without reasoning :Non Sequiter
Red Herring: getting off base to confuse audience/opponent
if this happens, it will lead to this bad situation :Slippery Slope
Ad Poplum: using pride or nationalism to invoke response
always going back to the same claim with no evidence :Circular Reasoning
An Argument Using Toulmin's Method
For the full essay: see here