Why Not Teach Critical Thinking.,
2016
Coastal Carolina University
Why Not Teach Critical Thinking., Benjamin Hamby Ph.D.
OSSA Conference Archive
There is a mounting case to be made for not teaching critical thinking. Given recent evidence suggesting that cognitive biases are intractable, that students who receive comprehensive, long term, explicit instruction for critical thinking “across the curriculum” reap negligible benefits, and meta-analyses that suggest only certain limited approaches to critical thinking instruction produce meaningful gains, this paper offers a critical challenge to teaching critical thinking, especially as a general education requirement for a baccalaureate degree.
The Method Of Relevant Variables, Objectivity, And Boas,
2016
Hunter College of The City University of New York
The Method Of Relevant Variables, Objectivity, And Boas, James B. Freeman
OSSA Conference Archive
L. J. Cohen has presented an understanding of appraising argument strength which applies to a variety of types of defeasible reasoning. This method can be used to explicate how a body of information may back a warrant and to rank different bodies of evidence on strength of backing. We shall argue that this method allows backing warrants objectively, whether they are inductive warrants backed by observation or moral warrants backed in part a priori. The method also suggests where arguments employing these warrants may be vulnerable to bias bias but need not be infected by it.
Objectivity In Newsmaking: An Argumentative Perspective,
2016
Zurich University of Applied Sciences Winterthur
Objectivity In Newsmaking: An Argumentative Perspective, Marta Zampa
OSSA Conference Archive
Objectivity is a key concept in journalism studies, yet a controversial one. Scholars (e.g., Clayman and Heritage 2002; Hallin and Mancini 2004; Schudson 1978; 2001) disagree on what it precisely implies (distinguishing facts from opinions? Reporting only true facts? Being balanced in presenting positions?) and on how strictly journalists should stick to it. I claim that adopting an argumentative perspective enables to see how journalists deal with objectivity in everyday work. In fact, the objectivity requirement plays the role of endoxical premise in argumentative reasoning that takes place during newsroom decision-making. In the present paper, this is shown by analyzing …
Couples’ Dialogue Orientations,
2016
University of Maryland - College Park
Couples’ Dialogue Orientations, Dale Hample, Ioana A. Cionea
OSSA Conference Archive
Walton has distinguished among several sorts of argumentative dialogues (persuasion, negotiation, information seeking, deliberation, inquiry, and eristic). This paper continues the project of measuring individuals’ self-reported preferences for each dialogue type. In this study, long-term romantic couples were surveyed to examine if their dialogue preferences matched, and whether their preferences were, in turn, related to their relational satisfaction.
Normative Argumentation Theory Without Fundamental Principles,
2016
University of Amsterdam
Normative Argumentation Theory Without Fundamental Principles, Eugen Octav Popa
OSSA Conference Archive
In this paper I develop and defend a form of argumentative normativity that is not based on fundamental principles. I first argue that research agendas that aim to discover (or claimed to have discovered) fundamental principles of ‘good’ argumentative discourse share one crucial weak spot, viz. circularity. I then argue that this weak spot can be avoided in a pancritical (Bartley, 1984) view of normativity.
Inducing A Sympathetic (Empathic) Reception For Exhortation,
2016
Edgewood College, Communication Studies
Inducing A Sympathetic (Empathic) Reception For Exhortation, Fred J. Kauffeld, Beth Innocenti
OSSA Conference Archive
This essay explores ways arguers can afford potentially unsympathetic addressees good reason to empathetically entertain exhortative discourse. First, we illuminate the essential structure and underlying constitutive pragmatics of exhortation. Second, we show that the persuasive force of Lincoln’s Cooper Union Address derives from his use of exhortation. By doing so we add to recent scholarship that accounts for the persuasive force of civically significant speech acts.
Splitting A Difference Of Opinion,
2016
University of Groningen
Splitting A Difference Of Opinion, Jan Albert Van Laar, Erik C W Krabbe
OSSA Conference Archive
When unable to resolve a conflict of opinion about the objective worth of an action proposal, discussants may choose to negotiate for a compromise. Is it legitimate to abandon the search for a resolution, and instead enter into a negotiation that aims at settling the difference of opinion? What is the nature of a compromise, in contradistinction to a resolution? What kinds of argument do participants typically put to use in their negotiation dialogues?
Agnotology And Argumentation: A Rhetorical Taxonomy Of Not-Knowing,
2016
University of Windsor, Graduate Student, Department of Philosophy
Agnotology And Argumentation: A Rhetorical Taxonomy Of Not-Knowing, Blake D. Scott
OSSA Conference Archive
This paper attempts to integrate an agnotological taxonomy of “not-knowing” with argumentation theory. Given rhetoric’s emphasis on what arguers choose to make present for their audience, it is argued that the rhetorical approach is best suited to accommodate the proposed taxonomy. In doing so we can improve the capacities of both arguers and audiences to detect adverse elements such as prejudices, implicit biases, and ideologies, which can restrict an argument’s claim to objectivity.
Pursuing Objectivity: How Virtuous Can You Get?,
2016
Universidad Nacional de Educacion a Distancia
Pursuing Objectivity: How Virtuous Can You Get?, José Ángel Gascón
OSSA Conference Archive
While, in common usage, objectivity is usually regarded as a virtue, and failures to be objective as vices, this concept tends to be absent in argumentation theory. This paper will explore the possibility of taking objectivity as an argumentative virtue. Several problems immediately arise: could objectivity be understood in positive terms— not only as mere absence of bias? Is it an attainable ideal? Or perhaps objectivity could be explained as a combination of other virtues?
The Normative Significance Of Deep Disagreement,
2016
University of Auckland
The Normative Significance Of Deep Disagreement, Tim Dare
OSSA Conference Archive
Some normative problems are difficult because of the number and complexity of the issues they involve. Rational resolution might be hard but it seems at least possible. Other problems are not merely complex and multi-faceted but ‘deep’. They have a logical structure that precludes rational resolution. Treatments of deep disagreement often hint at sinister implications. If doubt is cast on our 'final vocabulary', writes Richard Rorty, we are left with "no noncircular argumentative recourse .... [B]eyond them there is only helpless passivity or a resort to force.” I will argue that some normative problems are deep, but that we need …
Acts Of Ostension,
2016
Universidad Autónoma de Madrid
Acts Of Ostension, Hubert Marraud
OSSA Conference Archive
I will analyze the role of ostension in argumentation. Ostension involves gestures, bearing, postures, facial expressions, etc.; thus it can be argued that ostension can introduce non-verbal modes of argument, giving rise to multimodal arguments (Groarke 2014). Acts of ostension can be considered as a kind of speech acts according to the account in Wittgenstein’s Philosophical Investigations §27. As such they can provide the premises of a certain sort of arguments (which I term arguments by ostension). We have to distinguish the proper act of ostension from both its content and the object of ostension. While the latter can …
Uses Of Arguments From Definition In Children’S Argumentation,
2016
Università della Svizzera Italiana
Uses Of Arguments From Definition In Children’S Argumentation, Rebecca G. Schär
OSSA Conference Archive
The literature on argumentation and education often conveys that children’s argumentation skills are not well developed; therefore, it would be difficult to find argumentation in small children, as well as in primary school classrooms (Kuhn 1991). However, studies focusing on argumentation in less formal contexts (for example the family, see Arcidiacono & Bova 2013) show that there is no need to depart from such a negative stance. If children are given room to pursue their lines of thought (Danish & Enyedy 2015), they often produce sophisticated spontaneous argumentation. In this paper I consider arguments from definition introduced by children as …
Commentary On: Steve Oswald’S “Conspiracy And Bias: Argumentative Features And Persuasiveness Of Conspiracy Theories”,
2016
University of Windsor
Commentary On: Steve Oswald’S “Conspiracy And Bias: Argumentative Features And Persuasiveness Of Conspiracy Theories”, Scott Jacobs
OSSA Conference Archive
No abstract provided.
The Use Of Arguments A Fortiori In Decision Making,
2016
University of Santiago de Compostela
The Use Of Arguments A Fortiori In Decision Making, Sandra Clemencia Valencia Martinez
OSSA Conference Archive
Some decisions involve the use of a variety forms of arguments in order to balance different alternatives before getting a choice which is expected to be the better to solve the problem at issue. By doing this, there are some cases where people are able to or urge moving towards the choice that is most advantageous, probable or acceptable, and at other times towards a choice that is less negative or adverse than the others. Both alternatives depict different ways of searching for the stronger reason at stake. This means that the a fortiori argument is being used as a …
Reply To Commentary On "Ethical Argumentation, Objectivity, And Bias",
2016
University of Toronto
Reply To Commentary On "Ethical Argumentation, Objectivity, And Bias", Derek Allen
OSSA Conference Archive
No abstract provided.
Commentary To David Hitchcock's "Transsubjectivity",
2016
Universität Hamburg
Commentary To David Hitchcock's "Transsubjectivity", Harald R. Wohlrapp
OSSA Conference Archive
No abstract provided.
Reply To Commentary On "The Method Of Relevant Variables, Objectivity, And Bias",
2016
Hunter College of The City University of New York
Reply To Commentary On "The Method Of Relevant Variables, Objectivity, And Bias", James B. Freeman
OSSA Conference Archive
No abstract provided.
Reply To Commentary On Thinking Critically About Beliefs It’S Hard To Think Critically About,
2016
University of Waikato
Reply To Commentary On Thinking Critically About Beliefs It’S Hard To Think Critically About, Justine M. Kingsbury, Tracy Bowell
OSSA Conference Archive
No abstract provided.
Reply To Commentary On Uses Of Arguments From Definition In Children's Argumentation,
2016
Università della Svizzera Italiana
Reply To Commentary On Uses Of Arguments From Definition In Children's Argumentation, Rebecca G. Schär
OSSA Conference Archive
No abstract provided.
Reply To Commentary On ‘Emotional Legal Arguments And A Broken Leg’,
2016
UNIVERSIDADE FEDERAL DE GOIÂNIA
Reply To Commentary On ‘Emotional Legal Arguments And A Broken Leg’, Rubens Damasceno-Morais
OSSA Conference Archive
No abstract provided.
