What types of arguments are there? Researchers Wayne Brockreide and Douglas Enhinger investigated this. They did this by elaborating on the very old theory of Aristotle, presented in the book Ars Rhetorica. Aristotle’s theory of argumentation consists of three means of persuasion, namely ethos (authority), pathos (emotion) and logos (logical reasoning). Brockreide & Enhinger (1963) came up with three different types of arguments, partly due to the age-old theory of Artistoteles.
Authoritarian arguments
An authoritarian argument, as the name suggests, really only depends on the authority of the speaker. These arguments are automatically accepted by the listeners.
Example: Suppose a doctor says that a certain drug is very dangerous and that it should not be sold. Then this would be quickly accepted by the ‘doctor’ authority.
An argument about medications is plausible from a doctor. / Source: Anhngoc1397, Pixabay
Suppose a construction worker comes with the same news, then the argument is immediately rejected.
Motivational arguments
A motivational argument is based on the emotional needs of the audience. Such arguments are often used for fundraising.
Example: It is said that there should be laws for the protection of seals. It is said that many newborn seals are slaughtered. The latter appeals to the emotions of the audience. Most people are concerned that seals are slaughtered.
Substantive arguments
With substantive arguments, the claim is ‘linked’ to the data that proves the claim to be correct. Substantive arguments can be subdivided again.
1. Causal Arguments When the speaker wants to show why something happened, he/she uses a causal argument. It is a common type of argument in the public context.
Example: Consider the argument ,since CO2 levels in the atmosphere have increased, the greenhouse effect has been enhanced., It must then be possible to prove that the CO2 level has increased. So a clear cause is really indicated for the enhanced greenhouse effect.
2. Signaling arguments With a signaling argument, a certain situation is predicted by looking at another situation that can be associated with it.
Example: ,This VWO6 class will not do as well as the previous classes,. It is also indicated that the school exam scores with which the class starts the new school year are not as high as for the previous classes.
3. Generalizing arguments These arguments base a conclusion of a very large group on data that they have obtained from a small percentage of that large group.
Example: ,Guy Barzilay will win X Factor,. This is observed, for example, from a poll of 100 people. For example, 60 out of 100 people chose him. But this is such a small percentage of the large group that will vote for X-factor, so it is actually better not to take generalizing arguments too seriously.
4. Comparative arguments Comparative arguments compare two different situations and actually see them as the same type of situation.
Example: ,As president, I will balance the budget because that’s what I did when I was governor., So what you should always ask yourself with comparative arguments is whether the two situations are comparable. my view on