A Rulebook for Arguments

Anthony Weston

2000. 12

A Rulebook for Arguments

Anthony Weston

*Weston, Anthony. (1992). A Rulebook for Arguments (2nd ed.).

Indianapolis, Indiana: Hackett Publishing Company.
ISBN 0-87220-156-2 (pbk.)
Hackett Publishing Company
P.O. Box 44937
Indianapolis, Indiana 46244-0937

(1)

(2)

(3)

(4)

(5)

(6)

(7)

(8)

(9)

(10)

(11)

(12)

(13)

(14)

(15)

(16)

(17)

(18)

(19)

(20)

(21)

(22)

(23)

(24)

Modus Ponens

(25)

Modus Tollens

(26)

Hypothetical Syllogism

(27)

Disjunctive Syllogism

(28)

Dilemma

(29)

Reductio ad Absurdum

(30)

A.
(A1)

(A2)

(A3)

B.
(B1)
(B2)
(B3)
(B4)

(B5)

C.
(C1)
(C2)
(C3)
(C4)
(C5)
(C6)

argument

1986

1992
6

argument

disputation

inquiry

argumentative essays 1

Macbeth

argumentative essay

(1)

reasonstatement
premise
Winston Churchill

Sherlock HolmesThe Adventure of Silver

Blaze

10

generalization

(2)

Bertrand Russell

Skeptical Essays (London: Allen and Unwin, 1977), p. 127.

11

(3)

A2

12

(4)

(5)

loaded

CIA

**

Talcott Parsons, Societies: Evolutionary and Comparative Perspectives (Englewood

Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall, 1966), p. 56 Stanislas Andreski, Social Sciences
as Sorcery (New York: St Martin's Press, 1972), Chapter 6.

**

"The Secret War in Brazil, " The Progressive, August, 1977.

13

CIA

CIA

CIA

CIA

(6)
Senator Gunderson

14

X Y
Y X Y
X
Y X
Y X X Y

(7)

equivocation

15

16

argument by example
generalization

17

(8)
illustration

(9)
misrepresent

18

McGraw

1936 Literary Digest

RooseveltLandon

1936
*

1980

Mildred Parten, Survey, Polls, and Samples (New York: Harper and Row, 1950), pp. 25, 290, 393f.
Parten
19

(I, iii, 69-73)

(10)

2.4%

20

50%

Volovo

Consumer Reports
Richard
NisbettLee Rossperson who*

100%

5% 50%
52,500 7,500

Human Inference: Strategies and Shortcomings of Social Judgement (Englewood Cliffs, JN:
Prentice-Hall, 1980), p. 61man who
man
person
21

100%90%80%60%
50%*

80%

(11)

Peloponnesian War
Napoleonic Wars

"The Secret War in Brazil," The Progressive, August 1977.

22

23

arguments by analogy

ChippewaAdam
Nordwell

24

(12)

Niami News

9/23/73.
25

Santa Maria

David Hume
Dialogues Concerning Natural Religion

Dialogues Concerning Natural Religion (Indianapolis: Hackett Publishing Company, 1980), Part II.

26

27

X Y
Y

argument from authority

(13)

28

1985 Amnesty International

Amnesty International Newsletter

(14)
Census Bureau

1985 Amnesty International

Amnesty International Newsletter
Sinaloa

Jose Antonio
Nunez Villareal

Topheavy CollegeBernard
29

5%

The New York Times Book Review, 12/9/84, p. 3 .

30

(15)

Epson FX80 160

Epson FX80 160

Epson FX80
19 Epson FX80
19 *

Consumer Reports 1984 Buying Guide Issue, vol. 48, number 12 (Mount Vernon,
New York: Consumers Union of the United States, December, 1983), p. 96.
31

National Center for Crime Statistics

National Rifle Association

(16)

(17)

Ludwig von Mises

Ricardo

L. v. Mises, Human Action (New Haven: Yale University Press, 1963), p. 75.

32

ad hominem

33

correlation

(18)
A B AB A
B makes sense
AB A B

34

connection

N.B. BellocL. Breslow

Belloc and Breslow, "The Relation of Physical Health

Status and Health Practices," Preventive Medicine, volume1 (August,
1972), pp. 409-421.

(19)

35

Matthew Arnold

(20)

Doctor Hartshornes Insomnia

Bitters

36

(21)

(22)

A B A B
B A
37

A B B A A
B A B B A

(23)

38

deductive argumenttruth

argumentative essay

(24) Modus Ponens

valid argument p q

p q
39

p
q

p q
p
q

p q p
q

40

(25) Modus Tollens

q p

p q
q
p

q q q p

k b

kb
b
k

41

b k
* Fred Hoyle

i h

i h
h
i

h
i

(26) Hypothetical Syllogism

p q
q r
p r

k
k b
b
k
k - - k

42

(s)(r)
(r)(q)
(s)(q)

s r
r q
s q

p q q p

(q)(t)

s
t
18

(27) Disjunctive Syllogism

p q
p
q

43

Bertrand Russell

(m)(i)
(m)
(i)

m i
m
i

or
a b a b ab
a b
or

p q
p
q

44

(28) Dilemma

p q
p r
qs
r s

Edmund Burke

r a p

r r
r p
r a
p a

45

p a

(p)(a)
(p)(w)
(a)(w)
(w)

p a
p w
a w
w

w w w

(29) Reductio ad Absurdum

p
p p
q
q
p

arguments by reductio
46

David Hume

(30) Deductive arguments in several steps

2429

47

1.
2.

3.

4.
5.
6.

7.
8.

2429

48

2.

3.

A.

AB
A 1

A.

1.
B.

4.
5.
C.

6.

7.
D.

49

B.

C.
D.
8.

50

A.

AB C

(A1)
voucher plan

51

52

(A2)

(A3)
A1 A2

53

54

B.

(B1)

55

(B2)

(B3)

56

(B4)

(B5)

Q Q

57

58

C.

Dublin

(C1)

(C2)

59

(C3)

B2

A2

60

(C4)

61

(C5)

B4B5

62

(C6)

63

fallacies

false cause

(1)

National Enquirer
generalizing from incomplete
information

(2) overlooking alternatives

A B A B
B A A B A B
64

A B

Jean-Paul Sartre

ad hominem

65

ad ignorantiam

ad misericordiam

ad populum

affirming the consequent

p q
q
p

66

begging the question

complex question

composition

67

denying the antecedent

p q
p
q

division

equivocation

false cause

false dilemma

68

loaded language

non sequitur

the person who fallacy

persuasive definition
Ambrose BierceThe Devil's
Dictionary

petitio principii

poisoning the well

post hoc, ergo propter hoc

provincialism
69

red herring

straw man

suppressed evidence

Flames
and Glory

weasel word

A
B
A

A B
A

70

Wejack
Algonquia*

Wejack
Wejack
71

selfish

headache

synonym

72

stipulative definition

eco- gardening

heoytuy
operational definition

73

essential definition

genus-and
-differentia

74

Academy

Diogenes

75

Strunk White The Elements of Style

Jack Meiland College Thinking

Jeanne Fahnstock Marie
Secor A Rhetoric of Argument, New York: Random House,
1982

Mildred Parten Surveys, Polls, and Samples, New

York: Harper & Row, 1950
Morris J. Slonim Sampling, New York:
Simon & Schuster, 1960 Darrell Huff
How to Lie with Statistics, New York: Norton, 1954)

Chaim Perelman The Realm of Rhetoric, Notre

Dame: University of Notre Dame Press, 1982)

Mills Methods I. M. Copi

Introduction to Logic, New York: Macmillan, many editions)
R. Rosnow R. Rosenthal
Essentials of Behavioral Research, New York: Holt, Rinehart,
and Winston, 1984 Jerry Cederblom
Donald Paulsen Critical Reasoning, Belmont, California:
Wadsworth, 3rd edition, 1991
76

William Gustason Dolph Ulrich

Elementary Symbolic Logic, Prospect Heights, Illinois: Waveland Press, 1973

John Venn
Venn diagram Copi

Howard Kahane
Logic and Contemporary Rhetoric, Belmont, California: Wadsworth, 6th edition,
1992
C. Hamblin Fallacies,
London: Methuen, 1970
Richard Nisbett Lee Ross
Human Inference, Eaglewood Cliffs, New Jersey: Prentice-Hall,
1980

77