In chapter three of Making Sense of Argumentation, the authors list five ways of making
sense of the world and explain how to use them to become a more effective advocate.
The five ways of making sense include good reasons, good story, scientific
argumentation, feminist theory and alternative dispute resolution. I found
myself most interested in the approaches of the good story and the alternative
dispute resolution. The former one, good story, is crucial as symbolic actions
that create social reality (p. 39). The authors also mention that we evaluate
story in part by “asking whether they are coherent and whether they are
faithful to what people have to come to believe to be true about the real
world.” This reminds me of the personal statement I wrote for applying for the university.
Almost every university requires a personal statement from students’
applications, and it asks the students to describe personal experience in order
to reflect how the students think of themselves, the community and the world. In
this way, the office of admissions could evaluate whether a student is
qualified or could contributes to the community. The authors also talk about
the role of fiction in good story. Although some stories are fiction, they could
be “real” since they reflect the experience of those who tell the stories and
those who hear or read them. I expand this claim to the importance of
literature in society. For a long time, a lot of foresighted writers appeal to
the public by fiction to achieve their goals, which could be a reminder of
social phenomenon or a call for social change.
The latter one, alternative
dispute resolution, is used for resolve some particularly thorny disputes in a
way that allows expression and without the violent, disrespectful, and
demeaning outcomes of open clash (p. 46). ADR is divided into four types:
arbitration, mediation, negotiation and collaborative law. Among all of these
types, mediation is the most flexible processes and it has a third-party
mediator (or facilitator) who assists disputants in reaching agreement (p. 47).
Based on this definition, I relate this process to a recent anecdote happened on
my roommate. She received her instructor’s email about her accent, and she
found it a little inappropriate so she reached out for her advisor, which in
this case, played the role of the third-party mediator. The advisor talked to
my roommate and her instructor separately and the instructor genuinely apologized
to my roommate and she accepted it. Eventually both people reached an agreement
and there was no conflict or arguments at all. ADR provides
principles and strategies for developing a social climate which enables us to
learn from each other and cooperate across various backgrounds.
Rieke, R. D., Sillars, M. O.,
& Peterson, T. R. (2013). Argumentation and critical decision
making. Boston: Pearson.
Hello Yujia, I really enjoy reading your post, you did a wonderful job summarizing contents and key points from Chapter 3. I would like to share my experiences of how to be a good advocate using two of the five ways of making sense technique. When I was trying to convince my parents to buy me a car, I was only 18 years old, study alone in Seattle. It is always a tough job for a person who just turned 18 to persuade her parents for a car. Therefore, I made a list of good reasons that a car is a necessary object for me. 1. It’s rainy in Washington, sometimes windy and rainy especially in winter, I couldn’t hold my umbrella while its windy and rainy, so I often arrive home and my body were socked all over. 2. I already get my driver’s license on my own; I always want a car, I did my research and chose a car that is both practical and cost-effective, all you need to do is pay for it. (and I also put information of that car in my word document, yes, for buying a car, I made a word document and sent it to my parents.)3. It is time for me to learn how to be independent, this is the reason why my parents sent me to go abroad alone when I was 17. But without a car, it is hard to take care of myself; it’s hard to buy groceries, how can I learn how to be independent if I cannot even buy groceries?
ReplyDeleteI convinced my parents and achieved my wish. I used good reasons and a good story, and finally get what I want.
You did a great job of explaining the significance of a good story and ADR! It was interesting to hear about the story with your roommate and how meditation helped diffuse the situation rather quickly. I recently heard a similar story from a friend of mine who works as a real estate agent. Apparently, his client had purchased a home under the agreement that the seller was going to do certain repairs and found out after closing that those repairs were done incorrectly This client was ready to file a lawsuit against the seller, but instead they chose alternative dispute resolution in the form of arbitration. Just like in your story, my friend’s client was able to reach an agreement with the seller in a short amount of time and without the hassle of going to court .I think alternative dispute resolution is a great way for people to present arguments informally and come up with agreements faster than they would have otherwise.
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ReplyDeleteI am interest in knowing what you think about biblical stories and/or the cannon of (western) literature because both have had a steady importance to western society across a substantial period of time. Many of the stories in the bible and/ or in works like the The Odyssey or Crime and Punishment are not coherent or consistent with reality. However, the characters and essence of the stories seem to acknowledge and emanate some "truth" about human nature and our proclivities. With the pervasiveness of atheism and various kinds of secularism, do you think these stories will remain useful? Will the essence of the story soon be obsolete or rather should the lessons emanated by the text be absolute? I am curious if continuous news reports about virtuous and non-fiction behavior is better at making certain personal (moral) philosophies more contagious or if a good fiction novel, which produces a virtuous and memorable character, is more effective at achieving this goal. I think that some form of timeless concept of what is virtuous is more useful because the story is steadfast as opposed to emerging out of specific contexts. After all, isn't the background knowledge we have collectively logged the basis for what we deem in real time as a coherent narrative or not? In the example in the textbook, where a mother's actions after her child goes missing are analyzed, we assume incoherence based off of what we have as a society deemed appropriate or 'natural' ways of a parent. To assume certain things about human behavior and how specific instances will likely make a person act is useful both in law and in real life (i.e. making friendships.)
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