Topics
In making arguments, whether you are using an appeal to logos, ethos, or pathos, you will constantly be making any of a number of tactical moves. You may wish to define a term, or present an example, or make a comparison, or quote an expert; you may wish to identify a difference, or point out a contradiction, or elucidate a causal relationship. These moves make up a whole repertoire of what scholars of rhetoric have called topics, and they are the building blocks of successful arguments.
While you may be more familiar with the word “topic” as referring to the subject of a composition, scholars of rhetoric use the word in the sense in which we use it here: to describe the rhetorical strategies with which an argument is made.
The topics are often quite common-sense, everyday parts of communication. Naming and studying them, however, gives us the opportunity to understand how they work and the vocabulary with which to talk about using them more skillfully.
A convincing inductive proof often requires the following topics:
Definition
The topic of definition represents a key step in making any kind of appeal to logos, and inductive reasoning is no exception. If you are attempting to use one situation as an example from which to make an inference about another situation, you will need to show that the two situations are analogous, and one key step toward doing so is to prove that specific terms mean the same thing in both cases.
In order to argue, for example, that a free market is good for a country’s prosperity, we would have to define both the term “free market” and the term “prosperity.” Would a free market involve freedom for corporations from antitrust regulations? Or would it involve freedom for consumers from price manipulation by corporations? Each of these competing definitions would have an effect on how we could interpret our examples.
Similarity
The topic of similarity is necessary for making an inductive argument because it must be shown that the examples given are analogous to each other and to the situation in question.
In order to argue inductively that a particular country should adopt free-market policy based on examples of successful policies in other countries, we would have to show that the economic situations of those other countries were similar enough to be used as analogous cases.
Difference
The topic of difference may be useful to counter an inductive argument by showing that the examples given are not analogous to the case in question, or that the terms used in the example do not match the definition given for them in the argument itself.
In countering the argument that a free-market policy is good for the prosperity of a country, we might seek to find differences between the example countries and the one for which the policy was being advocated, or differences between the policy proposed and the policies in the examples given.
Cause and Effect
The topic of cause and effect is likely to be necessary for making an inductive argument for a particular action based on the outcome of similar actions, because it must be shown in each example that the action was what probably caused the outcome.
In order to argue for a particular free-market policy based on examples of positive outcomes in various countries, we would have to show that it was at least highly probable that the policy in question had caused the increases in the example countries’ prosperity.
Testimony
The topic of testimony may be a useful way to present an example in an inductive argument.
In making a case for or against free-market policies, we might quote the testimony of a defector from a communist regime, like Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn, or of a vocal critic of the treatment of workers in a capitalist society, like Dolores Huerta.
Statistics
Statistics is a way of presenting a very large number of cases in the aggregate, as one example.
In making a case for or against free-market policies, we might cite GDP growth, standard of living, and other metrics for prosperity.
Question
Choose one of the topics discussed above, and write your own example for it
Definition
Similarity
Difference
Cause and effect
Testimony
Statistics
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Inductive Topics in Counterargument
Question
What topic is being used in the refutatio of Sarah Brady’s speech, quoted below?
“Jim and I are proud to join with you tonight in saluting the great job that President Clinton has done in fighting crime and gun violence. He’s a hunter and a sportsman, but he understands the difference between a Remington rifle and an AK-47. And he knows that you don’t go hunting with an UZI. . . .”
“The gun lobby likes to say that Jim and I are trying to take guns away from hunters and sportsmen. The gun lobby is wrong. To the hunters and sportsmen of America we say: Keep your guns. Just give us the laws that we need to keep guns out of the hands of criminals and out of the hands of our children.”
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Definition
Similarity
Difference
Cause and Effect
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