Chapter 7

Chapter 7 is all about “refuting an argument.” This is a helpful skill to have when it comes time to point out that we know an argument is weak, or flat out wrong. The text explains that there are three ways direct ways of refuting an argument. The first way is “Show that at least one of the premises is dubious.” (p. 149) The second way is to, “Show that the argument isn’t valid or string.” (p. 149) Te final way is, “Show that the conclusion is false.” (p. 149) These are all helpful suggestions, but I think the real key is to find a way to make the person presenting the argument hear your response without reverting to a defensive state. Often I find that if we are too direct with our rebuttal that the other person will stop listening, and our message is not received. However, we also must be careful not to sugar coat the response too much either. There’s a fine line when dealing with humans.