Graphical Argument Analysis: A New Approach to Understanding Arguments, Applied to a Debate about the Window of Vulnerability

Publisher Website
Google Scholar
Abstract
Arguments and debates about politics are activities central to a democracy. Understanding arguments according to common frames of reference is not a straightforward task but demands much critical intelligence and skill. To aid in evaluating and criticizing arguments, we present in this paper a quasi-formal analytical methodology that uses a graphical scheme synthesized from the work of Toulmin and others. Arguments are analyzed into sets of propositions structurally linked by support, attack, and “warranting” relations. This method had advantages over others, since it is well-adapted to informal reasoning and since it helps identify implicit principles of argumentation (warrants), unsupported claims, circularities in reasoning, lines of possible attack, and structural relations between sub-arguments. Anyone can use the graphical template of argument elements and relations as a guide in analyzing political (or other) arguments for a variety of critical purposes. In this paper, we apply the method to a debate about the strategic window of vulnerability, a debate chosen for its continuing political relevance and the richness of its argument structure. We present graphs and their verbal interpretations, and we hope to encourage others to use this method in their own critical research.

This publication has 0 references indexed in Scilit: