HOW DO I ANALYZE PROPOSITONS?

1. HOW DO I ANALYZE PROPOSITONS? A 4-Step Process of Analysis

2. To assist you in thorough preparation of brief! Locating immediate cause

3. Location, location, location • Monitor the media • What are people talking about within & across the field WHY? • To discover why the controversy you have stated in your proposition is sufficiently important to justify the argument!

4. Factual argumentation Remember: something leads to a difference in the interpretation of info-a significant event, unusual occurrence, an observed circumstance may be immediate cause for factual argumentation. To find immediate cause: • Examine what has taken place or been expressed to make a fresh interpretation or creates a desire to seek knowledge.

5. Value argumentation • To judge or evaluate a person, place, object, event, policy, idea • Immediate cause=that which initiates the need to make a judgment Question or look for: • Saliency of a particular core value • Concerns about the criteria to make the value judgment • Desire to make a fresh evaluation • Conflicts b/t existing value judgments • New technology or a discovery initiated

6. Policy argumentation To change a policy or create a new one b/c a problem exists stemming from events or observations-for immediate cause, look for: • What caused a problem to reveal the inherent reasons why change is necessary • Discover the structural & attitudinal basis for a policy change

7. Immediate cause cont. • Mainstream or field-specific news media • Opinion leaders comments • Research projects exist w/ findings • Position statements or white papers issued by influential groups/individuals • Web sites, tweeting, blogging, talking online = SOCIAL MEDIA • News & Mass Media choose to talk about

8. “it is architecture as argument, explicitly meant to sway opinion” The Opening of the Acropolis Museum

9. Parthenon Marbles Controversy • Who is the rightful owner of the Elgin Marbles? (begin discovery of immediate cause) • British Museum-a ”must see” exhibit • 2009 new Greek museum opened, renewing interest in Elgin Marbles-Greek govt wants collection returned to Athens to display with other surviving artifacts from Parthenon Newsweek article written on controversy

10. Series of publications/larger concerns-2008-09 • The Parthenon Marbles: The Case for Reunification-moral, artistic, legal, political reasons to return them • The Parthenon Sculptures-case made that Elgin Marbles belong to world not just Greece • About the Elgin Marbles: Critical Essays on Cultural Property, Art, and Law-examines debate on both sides to determine if claims are sound

11. 3 Web Sites out of many • The Committee for Reunification of the Parthenon Marbles • The American Committee for the Reunification of the Parthenon Sculptures • Elginism by Matthew

12. Controversy & Quest for Knowledge=Historical Connections 2. Investigating the history

13. History of Controversy Help you understand: • Field in which you are arguing • Discover where presumption lies Immediate cause=why concern about subject at the moment vs History of controversy=deeper understanding of issues

14. History of Parthenon Marbles • Two and a half millennia • Goddess Athena • Parthenon become powerful symbol of democracy & liberty • Lord Elgin’s role • Immediate reactions • 20th century repatriation efforts • Broader issues of cultural property

15. Questions • Fact: • Who has the legal right of ownership of the Elgin Marbles? • Who has the moral right of ownership of the Elgin Marbles? • Value: • Which museum, the British Museum or the new Acropolis Museum, is best suited for displaying the Elgin Marbles? • What is the value of the encyclopedic museum in retaining artifacts of symbolic significance from diverse cultures such as the Elgin Marbles?

16. Questions cont. • Policy: • Should the British govt restore the Elgin Marbles to Greece for display in the new Acropolis Museum? • Ho should museums respond to the claims of nation-states demanding the return of their cultural patrimony? Presumption lies with British Museum

17. Clarification for you & the audience! 3. Defining key terms & creating the primary inference

18. Define terms • Clarify what you mean & how you intend the audience to understand the proposition • Prima facie case or how the brief upon first reading seems logically complete & the audience will feel comfortable accepting as probable

19. Primary inference • Inference-conclusion you have reached on the basis of information you have examined. Made by drawing a conclusion from available information • Primary Inference-the conclusion you draw about what you believe the proposition means based on the info contained in your definition of key terms • Factual Proposition: The nation-state of Greece has the right of ownership of the Elgin Marbles.

20. Rule-governed communication • The nation-state of Greece=subject • has=verb • the right of ownership of the Elgin Marbles=independent clause that is the predicate of the sentence (Simple sentence with a subject, verb & single independent clause)

21. Key Terms-Factual • Nation-state of Greece-the combo of a civil govt with the historically developed community of people who have a distinctive culture and language as is found in contemporary Greece • Right of ownership-a moral claim to possess the artifacts of a culture, created by the people of the culture, for the people of the culture, as established by the 1970 UNESCO declaration on cultural property • Elgin Marbles-the sculptures cut from the Parthenon & those taken from its environs by Lord Elgin & removed to London b/t 1801-06 Primary Inference:The people of contemporary Greece have a moral right to their cultural property taken from Greece & removed to London by Lord Elgin.

22. Key Terms-Value • Value Judgment term: • Value Object: • Value judgment:

23. Key Terms-Policy • Term for Proposed change: • Term for the responsible agency:

24. Applying the stock issues 4. Determining the issues

25. Stock Issues-Factual • 2 Factors • What constitutes burden of proof in establishing a prima facie case • What can be demonstrated to be most probably true w/ the resources of proof & reasoning • Two stock issue questions

26. stock issues-first • Assist you in finding potential issues for building factual brief • What information confirms (or denies) the alleged relationship b/t the subject and the predicate of the primary inference? This is asking you to meet your research responsibility by finding out if there is enough available evidence to prove arguments about probable truth of proposition

27. stock issue-second • What techniques of reasoning should be used to demonstrate this relationship? • Pertains to your responsibility to reason w/ your audience. Arguing fact is at the very heart of the process of argumentation

28. The way to organize the brief assignments Toulmin’s Model

29. British logician Stephen Toulmin • Way to analyze & create arguments • As a logician, he was • Dissatisfied with absolutes-wanted to argue practical arguments that focus on the justification of argumentation rather than inferential function in theoretical argumentation ( this makes inferences based on a set of principles to arrive at a claim) • Toulmin believed a good argument succeeds when it provides a good justification for a claim

30. Toulmin • Wanted to analyze • Wanted a method • Created the a model with six interrelated components for analyzing arguments • Life example about vegetables

31. The model • Key Terms • Primary Triad • Claim • Grounds • Warrant • Secondary Triad • Backing • Qualifier • rebuttals

32. Definition of Terms A unit of argument using the primary triad: • Claims-support your proposition • May be fact, value, policy, definition • Are assertions until proven • Answer the question, “What’s your point?” • Written as simple sentence • Based on observation of evidence It’s your turn to drive I’ll bet the food is good here. You should send Mimi a birthday card. That was a stupid thing to do.

33. Example • Proposition: Secondary smoke causes cancer Claim 1: Adult non-smokers contract cancer from secondary smoke. Claim 2: Children who don’t smoke contract cancer from secondary smoke. Claim 3: Smokeless workplaces have lower rates of cancer.

34. Grounds • Grounds provide proof & may be: • Examples, statistics, opinion • Common ground • Answer the question “Where is your proof?” I drove the last two times. Every restaurant in this chain has been good. Mimi sent you’re a card on your birthday. Running with scissors is not a smart thing.

35. Example • Grounds for secondary smoke argument- • Would require specific evidence to support each claim • Attribution should be complete • author, qualifications, title, source, date • Evidence should be accurately quoted

36. warrants • Warrants are the glue that strengthens your argument: • Explains the reasoning in the argument • Justifies the movement from grounds to claim • Often implicit (unstated) • Provides a mental link for the audience We usually take turns driving (generalization If most of the other restaurants in the chain are good, this one will be too. (generalization) Aunt Mimi’s kindness should make you respond. (causation) Because I am the mommy! (authority)

37. More on Warrants • Will probably fall into a reasoning pattern: • Generalization • Analogy • Sign • Causation • Authority • Parallel case

38. Remember: • Analysis: • Locate claims • Examine grounds • Figure out warrants • Creation: • Find grounds • Figure out warrants • Create claims