Argumentation: The Study of Effective Reasoning

Overview

Learn the fundamentals of argumentation and build a foundation for communication and reasoning that will benefit you in every area of your life.

What is effective reasoning? And how can it be done persuasively? These questions have been asked for thousands of years, yet some of the best thinking on reasoning and argumentation is recent and represents a break from the past. These 24 engaging lectures teach you how to reason, how to persuade others that what you think is right, and how to judge and answer the arguments of others—and how they will judge yours.

Professor Zarefsky makes argumentation accessible and familiar by breaking it into five easy-to-understand components. This course shows more useful approaches, focusing on the structure of arguments, the types of evidence, and the inferences that link evidence to claims. By the end of the course, you will have a practical framework for continuing to build your argumentation skills.

Course Structure

1. Introducing Argumentation and Rhetoric
   Duration: 32 min
   Examine argumentation in its classical sense and its relationship to rhetoric.
2. Underlying Assumptions of Argumentation
   Duration: 30 min
   Explore the assumptions that underpin the use of argumentation in decision-making.
3. Formal and Informal Argumentation
   Duration: 30 min
   Review the defining features of deduction and induction in argumentation.
4. History of Argumentation Studies
   Duration: 30 min
   Trace the evolution of argumentation studies from ancient Greece to modern times.
5. Argument Analysis and Diagramming
   Duration: 30 min
   Learn how to analyze arguments and understand their structure.
6. Complex Structures of Argument
   Duration: 30 min
   Explore how arguments can be embedded in complex structures.
7. Case Construction – Requirements and Options
   Duration: 30 min
   Understand how to assemble a case and address all relevant issues.
8. Stasis – The Heart of the Controversy
   Duration: 30 min
   Identify the focal point of dispute in arguments.
9. Attack and Defense I
   Duration: 31 min
   Learn about the processes of refuting and rebuilding cases.
10. Attack and Defense II
    Duration: 31 min
    Continue the discussion on attacking arguments and defending them.
11. Language and Style in Argument
    Duration: 30 min
    Explore how language choices affect the presentation of arguments.
12. Evaluating Evidence
    Duration: 31 min
    Focus on the importance of evidence in supporting arguments.
13. Reasoning from Parts to Whole
    Duration: 30 min
    Examine inferences from examples and their role in arguments.
14. Reasoning with Comparisons
    Duration: 30 min
    Study reasoning from analogy and its significance in argumentation.
15. Establishing Correlations
    Duration: 30 min
    Learn about inferences from sign and how they predict outcomes.
16. Moving from Cause to Effect
    Duration: 31 min
    Explore causal inferences and their implications in arguments.
17. Commonplaces and Arguments from Form
    Duration: 30 min
    Understand inferences based on social knowledge and common beliefs.
18. Hybrid Patterns of Inference
    Duration: 30 min
    Examine hybrid inference patterns in argumentation.
19. Validity and Fallacies I
    Duration: 30 min
    Discuss what makes a good argument and common errors in reasoning.
20. Validity and Fallacies II
    Duration: 30 min
    Continue exploring general errors in reasoning and their implications.
21. Arguments between Friends
    Duration: 31 min
    Investigate the personal sphere of argumentation and its dynamics.
22. Arguments among Experts
    Duration: 30 min
    Explore how argumentation differs in specialized fields.
23. Public Argument and Democratic Life
    Duration: 31 min
    Learn about the role of argumentation in public discourse.
24. The Ends of Argumentation
    Duration: 31 min
    Consider the larger purposes served by the process of argumentation.