Читать книгу Making Arguments: Reason in Context - Edmond H. Weiss - Страница 13

Again, the best demonstration of what an argument is NOT, is the Monty Python Argument Clinic sketch, mentioned earlier (see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Argument_Sketch). In it a man has just paid to “have an argument.” Almost immediately, he experiences the frustration of having his interlocutor contradict everything he says.

A: Come in.

M: Ah, Is this the right room for an argument?

A: I told you once.

M: No you haven't.

A: Yes I have.

M: When?

A: Just now.

M: No you didn't.

A: Yes I did.

M: You didn't

(After more of this bickering, the man—obviously a student of argumentation—offers his rationale.)

M: An argument isn't just contradiction.

A: It can be.

M: No it can't. An argument is a connected series of statements intended to establish a proposition.

A: No it isn't.

M: Yes it is! It's not just contradiction.

A: Look, if I argue with you, I must take up a contrary position.

M: Yes, but that's not just saying 'No it isn't.'

A: Yes it is!

M: No it isn't!

A: Yes it is!

M: Argument is an intellectual process. Contradiction is just the automatic gainsaying of any statement the other person makes.

A: Not necessarily.

The man is frustrated, because he is not having an argument. He is simply enduring a series of assertions presented in contradiction to his own points. At one spot in the discussion, the man tries to tell his “opponent” that it isn’t really argument, but even that point is simply contradicted.

Argument is more than making claims and contradicting an opponent. Argument is a complete intellectual process in which one thinks out, launches, and backs up assertions with evidence, reasoning, and language strategies. Argument is often dialectical, and therefore involves listening and clash. It requires the participants to extend and expand the scope of their argumentation.