Understanding Toulmin
Because our rhetoric text, ENG 101, and ENG
102 all use the system of argument developed by philosopher Stephen Toulmin,
it is important for us to learn the vocabulary and understand the logical
organization of Toulmin's schema. Before reading this web page further,
carefully study WA: 99-106.
From our study of classical Aristotelian argument,
we've already become familiar with claims, reasons, and enthymemes:
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Enthymeme: Docking
the tails and clipping the ears of certain dog breeds is cruel because
the procedures cause needless suffering.
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Claim: Docking the
tails and clipping the ears of certain dog breeds is cruel.
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Reason: The procedures
cause needless suffering.
To this Aristotelian vocabulary, Toulmin adds
the concepts of warrant, grounds, backing, conditions of rebuttal, and
qualifier.
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Warrant:
the warrant is the underlying assumption that makes the enthymeme true.
In other words, the warrant is the belief or value held by the audience
that makes the argument sound.
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Warrant: Procedures
which cause needless suffering are cruel.
Notice how the warrant in a definition argument
links the criteria (Procedures which cause suffering) with
the category (are cruel.)
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Backing: Sometimes
an audience may have difficulty accepting our warrant. In the warrant above,
most people will grant us that needless suffering is cruel. But what if
they needed proof to accept our warrant? In such a case, we'd have to present
backing. Backing is the evidence that our warrant is reasonable. Consider
the same argument about docking and clipping using an additional reason.
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Enthymeme: Docking the tails and clipping the
ears of certain dog breeds is cruel because it the painful procedures are
performed merely for aesthetic reasons.
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Claim: Docking the tails and clipping the ears
of certain dog breeds is cruel.
-
Reason: The procedures are performed merely for
aesthetic reasons.
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Warrant: Painful procedures performed merely for
aesthetic reasons are cruel.
In this case, some members of our audience might
object to our underlying warrant. Just because aesthetic procedures are
painful, they may say, is no reason to say that they're cruel. In fact,
millions of people undergo painful face lifts, stomach stapling, hair transplants,
breast enlargements/reductions, liposuction, etc., for aesthetic reasons
and we don't call these painful procedures cruel. Since we know that
some audiences might object to our warrant, we provide backing to support
the warrant:
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Backing: dogs
do not share human standards of beauty and do not benefit at all from having
perky ears or elegant tailless profiles, the dogs understand only the pain
of the procedures and not American dog show standards, dogs are unable
to provide their assent to such amputations, dogs do not benefit in any
way from the procedures and do, in fact, suffer greatly from them,
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Grounds:
grounds are easy -- they are the evidence you provide to support your reasons.
If our reason is "The procedures cause needless suffering," the
grounds would include all the statistics, examples, facts, anecdotes, expert
opinions, etc. that we can think of or find through research.
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Grounds: Docking
the tail involves amputating the puppy's tail which is an extension of
its spinal column, the puppy cries when the stump is bumped, the puppy
bleeds from the wound, the procedure to clip ears is performed on extremely
sensitive tissue of the ears and involves cutting out a significant portion
of the delicate ear fold and sewing it back up in a triangular shape, the
only reason either procedure is performed is merely for APPEARANCE!! The
procedures are performed on a variety of spaniels and hounds such as dobermans,
cocker spaniels, English spaniels, etc. In Britain, such barbaric practices
have been outlawed: in America, the procedures are still considered mandatory
breed standards. Even in America, many expert veterinarians refuse to perform
docking or clipping due to the needless suffering the procedures inflict
on puppies.
_________________________________________
Conditions of Rebuttal:
Conditions of rebuttal require us to examine our argument from the perspective
of an opponent, someone who disagrees with our position. Sometimes this
process is called "considering the opposition." In general, opponents can
attack two areas of our argument: 1) Reasons and Grounds and 2) Warrants
and Backing. Imagining the Conditions of Rebuttal for our own argument
is useful since it alerts us to our argument's weaknesses, identifies areas
for further research, and suggests better ways of phrasing our argument
to eliminate problems. Unless we are dealing with facts and, thus, not
arguing, however, we won't be able to eliminate every single condition
of rebuttal.
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Reason and Grounds: The procedures cause needless
suffering (amputation, blood, crying,)
-
Conditions of Rebuttal:
Most clipping or docking procedures are performed under anesthesia, so
the puppies feel nothing; puppies' nervous systems are not well-developed
at four weeks, the age of the typical docking; puppies cry for any number
of reasons (such as fear or hunger) not necessarily pain; there are no
long-term painful consequences -- no more than if you or I had a headache.
-
Warrant and Backings: Painful procedures performed
merely for aesthetic reasons are cruel (dogs don't understand beauty, dogs
can't assent to such procedures, dogs themselves don't gain anything, etc.).
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Conditions of Rebuttal:
The breed standards of quality upheld by the national breed associations
far outweigh whatever minor pain the dogs experience, since the interests
of the breeders are in improving the future of the breed, so the breed
of dog benefits though the individual may suffer mildly.
By examining the conditions of rebuttal, we've
identified areas of weakness in our argument that need further defense.
For instance, our opponent's claim that the puppies are anesthetized and
the the pain is temporary weakens our claim that the animals suffer. We'll
have to work hard, when presenting our grounds, to provide evidence that
significant pain really does occur, despite the anesthesia, or that the
stumps remain painful for some significant period of time, or, even better,
argue that suffering isn't an issue of degree -- that ANY needless suffering
is cruel.
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Qualifier:
The use of a qualifier allows you to adjust the scope of your statements
and avoid overgeneralizing. Many statements, from our thesis to statements
of evidence, will benefit from qualifiers. By limiting the applicability
of our statements, qualifiers make us appear reasonable and open-minded,
ready to admit exceptions to our arguments.
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Reason: The procedures are performed merely for
aesthetic reasons.
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Qualifier: The
vast majority of modern procedures are performed merely for aesthetic
reasons.
(We're thinking of a condition of rebuttal which
suggests that docking the tails is practical measure, rather than a strictly
aesthetic measure, designed to prevent the ensnarling and entanglement
of dogs' tails in the brush while hunting.) Notice how the qualifier indicates
that the VAST MAJORITY of docking is performed for aesthetic reasons instead
of claiming that ALL dockings are performed for aesthetic reasons. Consider
how the following qualifiers manipulate the degree of scope:
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Nearly all docking procedures are performed
merely for aesthetic reasons.
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Most docking procedures are performed merely
for aesthetic reasons.
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Many docking procedures are performed merely
for aesthetic reasons.
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Several docking procedures are performed
merely for aesthetic reasons.
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In most cases, docking procedures are performed
merely for aesthetic reasons.
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Sometimes docking procedures are
performed merely for aesthetic reasons.
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In a minority of cases,
docking procedures are performed merely for aesthetic reasons.
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Docking procedures are very seldomly performed
merely for aesthetic reasons.
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The procedures are occasionally performed
for aesthetic reasons.
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