The Language of Argument

4 8

C H A P T E R 3 ■ T h e L a n g u a g e o f A r g u m e n t

just another demand for an argument—a demand for more reasons? Here

we tend to use three main strategies:

1. Assuring: Indicating that there are backup reasons even though we are
   not giving them fully right now.


2. Guarding: Weakening our claims so that they are less subject to attack.


3. Discounting: Anticipating criticisms and dismissing them.
   In these three ways we build a defensive perimeter around our premises.
   Each of these defenses is useful, but each can also be abused.

Assuring

When will we want to give assurances about some statement we have

made? If we state something that we know everyone believes, assurances

are not necessary. For that matter, if everyone believes something, we may

not even state it at all; we let others fill in this step in the argument. We

offer assurances when we think that someone might doubt or challenge

what we say.

There are many ways to give assurances. Sometimes we cite authorities:

Doctors agree...

Recent studies have shown...

An unimpeachable source close to the White House says...

It has been established that...

Here we indicate that authorities have these reasons without specifying

what their reasons are. We merely indicate that good reasons exist, even if

we ourselves cannot—or choose not to—spell them out. When the author-

ity cited can be trusted, this is often sufficient, but authorities often can

and should be questioned. This topic will be discussed at greater length in

Chapter 15.

Another way to give assurances is to comment on the strength of our own

belief:

I’m certain that...

I’m sure that...

I can assure you that...

I’m not kidding....

Over the years, I have become more and more convinced that...

Again, when we use these expressions, we do not explicitly present reasons,

but we conversationally imply that there are reasons that back our assertions.

A third kind of assurance abuses the audience:

Everyone with any sense agrees that...

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