I think the most important piece of planning a case is to fully understand the vision, what the arguer wants to get out of the argument and the adherence to such. It can be easy to get involved in arguments without really knowing what the desired outcome is. Passion for a certain topic and emotions can be helpful to drive someone to argue for change, but, like the book said, if the ultimate purpose is not defined beforehand, there is no way of telling when the argument is fulfilled. By understanding the goal of the case, people can tailor their argument to this goal to eliminate superfluous discussion or confusion, and to streamline the argument for the most efficient means of resolution. This all points to preparation, and I think that while often overlooked, preparation is the greatest determining factor of a successful argument. Many of these chapters harp on the importance of knowing the decision makers, their backgrounds and worldviews, their current visions versus the visions that they are persuaded towards, and their biases that could influence their decision. All of these steps in creating the argument index the necessity of preparation, and show that without this preparation, problems can arise in argumentation that the participants on one or both sides are not prepared to handle. In general it seems that the better prepared someone is for argument, the more likely they are to reach their ultimate goal, but this is not to say that any prepared argument is destined to be successful. Having an understanding of the ultimate purpose of a case is one of the most fundamental and guiding types of preparation because it gives the presenter a large-picture view of the reason behind their argumentation.
Chapter five focuses primarily on identifying and developing propositions for problems that people think are relevant. It goes over 6 steps for choosing a valid proposition based on a perceived “feeling of doubt.” While all six steps may not be necessary, the collectively ensure a well thought out and firm proposition. The six steps include identifying the question, surveying implicated objectives (or understanding what is the goal accomplishment in regard to the question), searching for new information, considering alternative options, considering costs and risks of each potential proposition, and then finally choosing one of the propositions. The authors then go on to talk about analyzing and strengthening the proposition chosen. This includes identification and ranking of the issues that the proposition addresses as well as understanding how the decision makers will react to these issues and propositions. In general, with all these methods of critically analyzing the proposition, ...
In my opinion, the more prepared you are the more you increase your chances of winning over an audience. If you follow the preliminary steps and you meet the preliminary responsibilities in addition to having an argument with a great logic and a solid foundation, then you should feel very confident that people listening to you speak will agree with the things you are arguing. There’s a known saying that goes, “fail to prepare, prepare to fail”, if you don’t prepare for something, it can be academically related or athletically, then it will be more than likely that you will not get the outcome you were hoping for.
ReplyDeleteHey Charles, I completely agree with you. The most important part of building a case or argument in my opinion is being well prepared and knowing what is coming ahead. I think preparation really shapes whether a case is good or not. Someone could have a great argument in mind but if there was no preparation on how the argument is going to be put out to the public, people might not understand the point you're trying to make, also, preparing for counter arguments is a great way to be fully prepared. Like you stated, being prepared does not mean you will win the argument, but it will put all the odds in your favor and make it easier for you to express your argument as clearly as possible.
ReplyDeleteI definitely agree that one of the most important pieces of case planning is developing a strong vision. I actually wrote on that in my blog post as well. I think the book goes over very interesting angles as far as that. Also, the overarching idea of this whole chapter on case building is that there needs to be a lot of preparation to achieve the best argument. Just like you outlined, preparation helps create the most clear and “streamlined” argument that does not waste anyone's time when it is explained. I have seen this principle quite a bit in argumentative essays that I had written for school in the past. There is a distinctive difference between the essays for spent a lot of time preparing and the ones that I did not. The ones that had more time put into them have much stronger arguments and supporting points than the others. Thorough reparation definitely helps create stronger arguments.
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ReplyDeleteI think you did a great job on summarizing the chapter and I really like your focus on the preparation part. I totally agree with you that timely preparation is extremely important on preliminary steps in case building, and in order to be well prepared, one must both did enough background research and be ready to different situations. Just like an exam, if you want to get a nice grade you must spend a lot of time on studying and reviewing, and you might also try to find out those content which are more likely to be tested in the exam. During a preparation, it is also normal for people to realize that their earlier ideas are wrong or miss other important arguments, so a thoughtful preparation is necessary and helpful for you building a strong case and becoming more confident.
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